%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1326393628015240100%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.%%->''"It feels like kind of a cheat; you can't have your characters be '''too powerful'''."''-->-- '''Martin Lloyd''', ''Series/StargateSG1'', [[Recap/StargateSG1S10E6200 "200"]]

A question writers should ask themselves when deciding which (if any) Super Powers to give the protagonists is "Which and how strong a set of powers does a character need in order for this story to be entertaining?". The reason why is because many times characters begin or end up having powers that in the hands of a [[MundaneUtility competent]] and [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower reasonably intelligent]] protagonist would allow them to [[GameBreaker handily solve a plot]]. Plot complications, the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil and the SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat would be incapable of dealing with this character... at least not without drastically changing the setting or the story's tone.

This is a common problem for sequels of works that end with the protagonist unlocking their full power. Once they get [[SuperWeight too much power]] they win the SuperpowerLottery and become [[PhysicalGod godlike]], or worse, ''[[GodModeSue Suelike]]''. On the other hand, a simple or limited power can lead to viewers [[FridgeLogic asking]] "[[StatingTheSimpleSolution Why don't they just]] use his power of X to do Y and stop the bad guy/get the MacGuffin?". In order to challenge the protagonist the writers will have to [[SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat ramp up the villain's power]], [[HowToStopTheDeusExMachina find a way]] to otherwise [[DeusExitMachina remove or sideline]] them, {{Depower}} them or at least [[PowerLimiter reduce it]] to more reasonable levels, [[BagOfSpilling take away their weapons]], or give them a DramaPreservingHandicap of some sort. Otherwise, the character will be TooPowerfulToLive. The easiest way to tell if this trope is in effect is when the writer resorts to handing the protagonist the IdiotBall and ForgotAboutHisPowers to keep the character from using their powers in a straightforward way.

On a bit of a tangent, there's a reason why this trope applies mostly to protagonists; we ''expect'' the BigBad to have a nigh unbeatable edge and get beaten nonetheless, giving us a [[UnderdogsNeverLose typical underdog story]]. Though this isn't to say it's ''good'' for a villain to have a Story Breaker Power, because they run the risk of becoming a VillainSue. This is why most stories with such villains focus on stopping them from actually getting these powers.

The abilities most likely to be Story Breaker Powers without careful use are:

* AdaptiveAbility* AntiMagic or its equivalents in a setting where magic is used frequently.* FlyingBrick, at least at higher levels of power* Any convenient way of bringing people BackFromTheDead* ImaginationBasedSuperpower* IntangibleMan, especially when the character can't be attacked or restrained in any way while intangible, and/or they can still affect the physical world* Mass MindControl/[[{{Brainwashed}} Brainwashing]]* MasterOfIllusion; a person with enough creativity and power over hallucinations and other such trickery could get away with ''whatever they wanted to'', especially if their target doesn't know that they have such powers.* NighInvulnerability* [[TheOmniscient Omniscience]]/[[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling prescience]]* A OneHitKill attack if there is no way to resist it and/or a limit to how powerful a target can be affected by it.* PowerCopying when it doesn't have limits to [[AllYourPowersCombined how much it can copy]]* [[WindsOfDestinyChange Probability manipulation]]* [[RealityWarper Reality warping]], especially when TheOmnipotent is involved.* SuperSpeed* SuperStrength* {{Telepathy}}* [[TeleportersAndTransporters Teleportation]], when it isn't limited by range or some sort of other drawback.* ThreeWishes, especially when there is no law against making each individual wish as long and as elaborate as one wants, or can wish for more wishes.* TimeMaster, especially [[TimeStandsStill stopping it entirely]] and TimeTravel unless there's some [[TemporalMutability immutability]]* A normal StockSuperpower dialed UpToEleven* [[PowerOfTheStorm Weather manipulation]]* VoluntaryShapeshifting

It's worth clarifying that yes, characters with these powers can and often do have engaging stories, great struggles, and otherwise captivate the audience. When that's the case, it generally is because the writer finds a way to properly ''integrate'' the power into the story rather than just shoehorning it into a stock plot probably originally intended for non-powered characters; ways to do this can for example involve complications that the hero legitimately ''can't'' easily solve by just throwing their power at them, and giving the downsides of having said power some spotlight time as well. In short, whether or not a given power is a "story breaker" depends on the ''story'' in question just as much as it does on the power itself.

Compare DeusExitMachina and StoryBreakerTeamUp, where this trope appears not because of a power itself but because of disparities between them. JustEatGilligan can become a result if this power can resolve all conflicts in the story. GameBreaker is a similar but otherwise unrelated trope, when a player manages to inflict this on a game. When instead of personal powers it's a certain kind of AppliedPhlebotinum that has this story-breaking ability, see HoldingBackThePhlebotinum for ways writers deal with this kind of material.

----!!Examples:

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]* The Key Of The Twilight from ''Anime/DotHackSign'' is rumored for being this within the confines of The World. It is said it allows the user to contradict the rules of the system and basically do whatever the hell they feel like doing. The REAL Key of the Twilight is Aura. She herself can do this (As her daughter later demonstrates) and is more or less the world itself.* Claire Stanfield from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has a story-breaking CharlesAtlasSuperpower - despite being ostensibly a [[BadassNormal normal human]], he's strong enough to take on anyone in the series (and a few in other series), including the resident [=demon/=]EldritchAbomination and a ''vampire''. WordOfGod is that he purposely didn't give Claire his own plotline because there's no one in the series who could possibly challenge him, which generally doesn't make for the most interesting story. He says he is tied for the third strongest character in TheVerse, only losing out to an EldritchAbomination that's a black hole and a character whose defining characteristic is being the strongest man ever.* ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'': Hanma Yuujiro, the strongest creature on Earth. Able to fight anyone and win, earthquakes and the USA included. Just by CharlesAtlasSuperpower, because [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours he fights so good]].* ''Manga/BlackCat'' invokes this with Leon, a twelve-year old boy who can manipulate air. As Eve notes, Leon could kill any member of the cast that he wanted to, simply by dispersing the air around them. Luckily he's too young to think of this, and instead resorts to trying to blow Eve away, enabling her to defeat him.* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': ** Letzt Stil vastly inflated Uryuu Ishida's abilities to such a degree he was capable of one-shotting both a captain and his bankai at the same time. It gives him complete dominance over reishi. In a world made entirely out of reishi (Soul Society or Hueco Mundo) it can destroy the world itself to give him limitless power. The author made the ability temporary, burning out the Quincy who uses it, destroying their power forever. Uryuu later regains his power due to ParentExMachina [[spoiler:and eventually the story introduces a different variant of this technique called Vollständig, ''which can be used freely because it doesn't burn out the Quincy's power afterwards'']].** Aizen's Shikai is complete control over the five senses. Once hypnotised by the Shikai, a person will always be so vulnerable to the illusions they won't even know they're ensnared. Since everyone of note in Soul Society has been hypnotised, it's impossible for them to beat him even when working together. Ichigo only stood a chance because he had not been ensnared [[spoiler:and, by the time they fought, Aizen was so drunk on power that he wilfully discarded his sword due to the belief he had gained even better Story Breaker Powers than ever]].** Yamamoto's Shikai is capable of killing every person for many miles around and he has to erect barriers to protect humans living outside the battlefield before he'll use it. The only way to combat Yamamoto is to seal his power and then fight him physically. Even then, Yamamoto is so overpowered he can thrash the enemy with his bare fists alone... and if that's not enough, his kidou power is insane as well. [[spoiler:His Bankai is ThePowerOfTheSun. Activating it will destroy Soul Society ''by accident'' if switched on for too long.]]** Orihime possesses a RealityWarper power that is an in-universe mystery. Characters have speculated that she can do anything if she believes she can and that she's never tapped into her full potential. She is exactly as strong as she believes she is, which is both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. Her personality is her limitation. She's so gentle, pacifistic, kind and unassuming that she cannot harm others, not even enemies.** Ichigo's Final Getsuga Tenshou easily defeated Aizen when Aizen was at his most powerful. [[spoiler:As with Uryuu's Letzt Stil, using this form was temporary and burned out Ichigo's powers quickly. Also like Uryuu, ParentExMachina ensures that he eventually does regain his powers.]]** Barragan's power is [[TimeMaster Senescencia]]. He slows down everything around him by manipulating time and ageing everything at incredible speed. In resureccion, this upgrades to Respira, a black smoke that rots everything that comes in contact with it and which travels large distances at extreme speed. Speed, Bankai, Kidou are all useless. It's so overpowered that the only way to defeat Barragan is by turning Respira on himself as even he is vulnerable to his own power.** As the Quincy progenitor, Yhwach possesses all Quincy powers, as well as the [[GreenLanternRing ability]] to give people power by lending them pieces of his soul. He can call back the soul shards at will, depriving the recipient of their power and life, to increase his strength. In battle, Quincies unknowingly infect their opponents with his soul shards, allowing Yhwach to steal life and power from both Quincies and their enemies. He can use this power recall to resurrect fallen Quincies, literally choosing who lives and dies at any moment. [[spoiler:Once he understands someone's power, his Schrift ability kicks in, allowing him to see into that person's future, allowing him to develop counters before their techniques have even been used.]]* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':** There's a list of at least a dozen characters, if not more, who are explicitly so broken no one can touch them except maybe a few other people on the broken list. There's a character who can make you fall into a coma if you ever think even the slightest negative or confrontational thing about her anywhere in the universe that's undefendable except with a PowerNullifier or AntiMagic. There's a guy whose powerset includes the ability to be +1 in power to whoever he's fighting, can hit you with an instantaneous attack from anywhere that ignores everything but causality and destroys whatever it hits, and defends the same way PASSIVELY. Or the guy who can completely negate and make useless anything he thinks of "as a weapon". There's so many of them they actually balance each other out.** Even counting all of the magical human characters, almost [[note]]There are at least two human characters who are ''stronger than {{God}}''.[[/note]] nobody can really top [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] on the power scale, which have the capability to utterly annihilate all life on Earth within minutes, and that's nowhere near their full strength. Fortunately, angels are not particularly hostile: the two times one has been fought, it was being compelled to fight against its will.* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' gives its protagonist [[WellIntentionedExtremist Lelouch]] the Geass, a miraculous mind-control power... that he actually uses a lot less than his favored BatmanGambit and military strategy. To combat this, the show gives him a RestrainingBolt in the fact that the Geass can only be used once on any specific person, though there is no specific limit to [[FridgeLogic how complex, long, and detailed that one instruction is]], which means that a pre-planned use of the Geass could allow Lelouch to command the actions of a person's entire life over the course of several hours. * ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':** [[Anime/DigimonAdventure Angemon, and later MagnaAngemon]], both seem to be on par with Digimon one level above their own. Patamon first digivolved to Angemon in order to defeat Devimon (the first BigBad). Much later when all of the Digimon evolved to their highest-level forms in order to face Myotismon (Ultimate for all 7 others), it was Angemon's attack that destroyed Phantomon, one of Myotismon's most powerful subordinates at the Perfect level, and his attack had a debilitating effect on Myotismon himself whereas no-one else could touch him until Angewomon came along. Angemon finally gets to digivolve to Ultimate just before the end of the show, and does the majority of the work in defeating Piedmon, a Mega-level digimon that had already beaten the combined might of [=WarGreymon=] and [=MetalGarurumon=] ''twice''. This is explained by Angemon, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin being an angel]], being naturally strong against evil Digimon, while being no more powerful than another of his level against anything else. Angemon then spent most of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' getting [[TheWorfEffect Worfed]].** In ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01'', Arkadimon is pretty much the most powerful Digimon period. It can damage a Mega-level digimon ''at the in-training stage.'' Not just any Mega, but the above-mentioned Piedmon (to be fair he was already injured but that is a five level difference for a monster that still had five more levels to evolve to!).*** The protagonist's very own partner, Zeromaru. As pointed out, it's usually more than just his uncanny strength that gets him by in fights (since many of his opponents are higher leveled) but when he reaches his Mega stage... [[spoiler:he unlocks the Ulforce, a HealingFactor so strong that he can recover from [[OneHitKO instant death attacks!]] Even [[BigBad Daemon]] had to negate it before he started whooping ass.]]** Taiki Kudo and Shoutmon serve as an in-story example in ''Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersLeapingThroughTime''. As the legendary general and the Digimon King respectively who saved the world in the preceding ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'', the Watch Man is understandably concerned that his very presence will destabilise the balance of the Digimon-hunting game. So far, he's being proven ''very'' correct - Taiki and Shoutmon have spent most of the series so far effortlessly curbstomping everything that Tagiru and Yuu have trouble handling.** ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' itself has Shoutmon X7 Superior Mode. [[spoiler:He digixrosses with Thousands, if not, ''millions'', of digimon that appeared in the entire digital world, and one shots the big bad with it in one slash.]] Consequently, it has NEVER appeared again since.* ''Manga/DragonBall'':** Given all the times Goku arrives late, is dead, or [[DeusExitMachina just not in the picture for whatever reason]], the author seems to think he's a story breaking character. He's one of the strongest, most dependable characters in the series who can teleport. Many of the sagas would end early if Goku was around from the start, and the time he wasn't around ''once'' was enough to plunge Earth into a BadFuture.** Gohan can easily become the strongest character in the entire universe, far surpassing his father and fellow hybrids, if he had a love for training and growing stronger. If Gohan had kept up his training during the seven year timeskip, he probably could have easily killed Fat Buu without any help.** Several characters have the ability to use [[BlindedByTheLight Solar Flare]] and [[DeadlyDisc Destructo Disc]], but they never think to use them together. However, after Frieza, it becomes a moot point because the main villains can all [[FromASingleCell regenerate]].** The devil Akkuman emits waves that amplify every evil or impure thought, causing even saintly people to ''explode from within''. He was defeated only because Goku has [[IncorruptiblePurePureness a totally pure heart]] and could not be affected. Unsurprisingly, he never appeared again after the story arc featuring him.[[note]]He did, however, appear in one DBZ fighting game where he retains the attack; while normally very weak, the attack does MASSIVE damage to evil characters, turning him into a LethalJokeCharacter who even gets a What-If story where he ends being the one to stop Freiza and King Cold by exploiting the move.[[/note]]** The Super Saiyan transformation vastly increases the user's power, often far beyond anyone around at the time. After defeating Frieza and his immediate family, there are no more naturally occurring individuals in the universe that are powerful enough to even threaten the Super Saiyans. Even the Kais, the [[PhysicalGod Gods]] of the series are simply not powerful enough. This is why the only serious threats afterwards had to be machines with infinite power sources, a biological android which uses their [[LEGOGenetics own DNA against them]], an EldritchAbomination created by magic, and the thematic opposite of the Kais, the [[TopGod God of Destruction]]. ** Garlic Jr, from the {{Filler}} and {{Non Serial Movie}}s, has CompleteImmortality. Both times he's popped up, he had to have [[WhatAnIdiot a sudden bout of stupidity]] and open a portal to an inescapable pocket dimension to finish off the protagonists, even though he could beat every single character in the series [[GradualGrinder simply by virtue of attrition.]] Both times, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the protagonists promptly shoved him into his own portal,]] because there simply wasn't any other way to get rid of him.** Cell can regenerate endlessly FromASingleCell, and like the Saiyans grows stronger after suffering severe damage. Under the right conditions, he could surpass every being ever depicted in the series. Which is why he needed to go after surviving his own self-destruction once.** Buu's transformation ray can turn ''anyone'' into food or an object of Buu's desire, and is also unblockable. The only saving grace is that can be dodged if a person is fast enough or expects it. However, one slip and you're dessert. This is on top of being able to reform from a single molecule, and his absorption technique, [[TheAssimilator taking in any fighter and gaining their knowledge, techniques, and power]], though the latter can backfire and make him weaker if he absorbs the wrong type of person. Buu becomes even more broken after he learns how to teleport, destroying a planet, regenerating, teleporting to the next planet, and repeating, turning him into a galactic wrecking ball.** Vegito, the fusion of Goku and Vegeta is (discounting the movies and ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', where Gogeta, a fusion of Goku and Vegeta using a different method, gives him a run for his money) the single most powerful being in the universe, capable of defeating Majin Buu's most powerful form with ease, despite not even needing to go beyond Super Saiyan 1. Even after being turned into ''a piece of candy'', he was still too much for Buu. However, after he gets Buu to absorb him (as part of his [[BatmanGambit plan]] to free those absorbed by Buu before defeating the demon) ''something'' about Buu's insides makes Vegito defuse.** Forget Goku, Gohan, Vegito, and Beerus, [[spoiler:the real story-breaking character is Whis]]. The author puts his power as a '''15''' on a 1 to 10 scale, beating the God of Destruction himself who ''only'' scores a 10. [[spoiler:He also has the ability to rewind time by three minutes so he can undo anything he desires.]]* Lucy becomes this by the end of the ''Manga/ElfenLied'' manga. Her vectors become so strong that she can [[spoiler:single-handedly combat an entire army with little apparent effort]]. Partially subverted in that [[spoiler:she was unable to sustain that level of power for long, and ignoring her limitations caused her to [[TooPowerfulToLive turn to mush]].]]* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' has the eponymous Hokuto Shinken. Every move it has is pretty much a fight ender, and it has a technique for everything. [[CrazyPrepared Everything]]. Kenshiro is ''very'' rarely ever really challenged, and his fights tend to end after he gets his first hit in. Only a selective few ever give him a real challenge, or even last for more than a couple of chapters once they seriously begin fighting.* Roy Mustang from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' is a perfect example of StockSuperpowers taken UpToEleven. His power is just stock [[PlayingWithFire elemental fire]] but he uses it to singlehandedly kill 2 near immortal homunculi and he's the only alchemist [[TheDragon Pride]] is worried about. [[spoiler:He's given a DramaPreservingHandicap in the finale and still kicks his fair share of ass.]]* Fans often describe Yuki from ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' as the strongest character ever made. Although this is probably an exaggeration, she does demonstrate NighInvulnerability, SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, and RealityWarper powers. Her crowning achievement would be [[spoiler:''hijacking Haruhi's full power'' to retroactively depower everyone and rewrite the universe to her liking]]. Her job is only to observe, however, so her overt actions are limited.* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'':** In a world where everybody is pretty darn broken, we have Ophis, a dragon who is also known as [[RedBaron The Infinite One]]. She's fully capable of wiping out ''anybody'' in this series, and {{No Sell}}ing the strongest weapon of the series. She has a few quirks of her own such as not really being interested in any fighting as long as someone can kick out Great Red from the Dimensional Boundary so she can "attain silence". [[spoiler:Then when she joins the protagonists group, she gets hit with the {{Nerf}} stick twice; first from [[AchillesHeel Samael the dragon eater]], and by using up half of her already reduced powers to create a body suitable for Issei seeing as he died trying to save her.]]** Great Red, ''the strongest character'' of the series bar none, [[spoiler:capable of wiping out a gigantic monster ''who has an instant regeneration power'', something that ultimate devils even have a hard time ''scratching''. [[ATasteOfPower Issei's combined form with Great Red]] was specifically stated by the author as a one-time form only]]. Fortunately, he prefers chilling in the Dimensional Boundary.** Sun Wukong, who's just as powerful here as he is in the original story. To clarify, he stopped [[spoiler: True Longinus]], the single most powerful weapon in the entire series, ''with one finger!''* ''Manga/InuYasha'': ** Bakusaiga was introduced towards the end of the story just before the FinalBattle, and was said that the BigBad didn't stand a chance against it, since it's capable of killing anything that merely comes into contact with anything it's cut and it can kill ''thousands'' with a single swing. As a result, the BigBad immediately steals the sword owner's MoralityPet and traps her inside his body for most of the rest of the story. When Sesshoumaru does finally rescue Rin and use the sword, Naraku's body starts being destroyed.** Miroku's [[PowerOfTheVoid Wind]] [[PowerPalms Tunnel]], what amounts to his own personal black hole in his hand, which he can use to suck any foe into oblivion. As a result, Naraku constantly manages to find a way to stop him from using it, such as [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere the Saimyosho]], whose poison spreads to Miroku should he suck them in.* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' broken abilities abound. The main reason is because Creator/HirohikoAraki explores the [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower logical implications]] of various abilities, so powers that should be story-breaking ([[NighInvulnerability invulnerability]], [[OneHitKill disintegration]], [[TimeStandsStill almost]] [[SuperSpeed anything]] [[TrickedOutTime time-related]]) are treated as such.** Giorno Giovanna of part 5 gains what is quite possibly not only the most broken power in all of anime and manga, but in all of fiction. [[spoiler:In the final battle of the part, his Stand is shot by the Requiem Arrow, and gains the ability to ''nullify any action an opponent takes'' even ones he cannot himself see. In addition, if said opponent is actually hit by the Stand, he's doomed to experience death for all eternity.]] Needless, to say it's fortunate that this only occurred at the very end of the part.** Vanilla Ice's stand can [[spoiler:create dimensional voids by eating itself, and whoever is hiding inside it. While inside his void sphere, Vanilla Ice is invulnerable to pretty much any attack, and can disintegrate enemies by merely coming in contact with them, and is invisible! It's only flaw is that the invisibility realistically prevents himself from seeing as well so the only way he can adjust his aim to a target is to expose himself momentarily.]]** Notorious B.I.G., [[spoiler:a psychic manifestation of a dead man, which takes the form of a blob that relentlessly consumes ''any'' matter, and has infinite durability, range and speed]]. The only reason it failed to wipe out the protagonists was because one of them had an ability almost ideal to counter it (to an extent), and they managed to make excellent use of their surroundings. Even then the heroes never really defeated B.I.G...** Josuke Higashikata's stand Crazy Diamond has [[spoiler:extremely powerful matter manipulation ability, and can turn enemies into books, or fuse them to a roadside statue without any trouble! Oh, and it can also heal almost any injury. Somewhat mitigated by the fact that he can't use it on himself.]]** Part 4 has Yoshikage Kira, who can atomize people with his stand, or [[spoiler:can create [[GroundhogDayLoop time loops]], in which his enemies keep on dying.]] ** Fugo was PutOnABus for this very reason. His Stand Purple Haze produced a toxin that destroyed every living organism that came in contact with it. Araki eventually decided to bench him because it became too difficult to design fights with Fugo around. This was reversed in the light novel ''Purple Haze Feedback'' though, where Fugo's ability evolved and gained more interesting uses.** [[SinisterMinister Enrico Pucci]] started out as simply clever and dangerous, whose stand, [[PowersAsPrograms Whitesnake]], was versatile but lacking in a stand-up fight. Then he made it [[DiscardAndDraw evolve into]] [[GravityMaster C-Moon]], which had less flexibility but a lot more power. Then, just as the heroes figured out C-Moon and had him on the ropes, he [[DiscardAndDraw discarded and drew]] again. Cue [[TimeMaster Made in Heaven]], whose power over time allowed him rip most of the heroes to shreds and ''remake the universe.'' [[spoiler:He does, but still falls to the [[FinalGirl final boy]] Emporio Alnino.]]** A non Stand example is the vampire, Cars the Pillar Man leader, who had achieved CompleteImmortality via the Red Stone of Aja. His abilities includes an AdaptiveAbility cranked UpToEleven, an immunity to Hamon due to being capable of using it UpToEleven in power and finally an immunity to sunlight. This made Cars nearly invincible as the plot had established only sunlight and Hamon could kill vampires. The nearly part comes from two facts, one [[spoiler:Joseph had to fire him out of the plot via volcano into space, where he eventually stops thinking from the isolation of being unable to do anything]] and two is the mentioned Stand powers especially Giorno's ability.** Dio Brando's Stand The World can [[TimeStandsStill freeze time]]. The only reason the good guys are able to triumph is because [[spoiler:Star Platinum has the same power.]]* Ryougi Shiki from ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' has the ability to [[OneHitKill kill absolutely anything instantly]], including magical and telekinetic attacks. [[spoiler:Her alternate personality is ''[[UpToEleven more powerful]]'', as it is an AnthropomorphicPersonification of the origin of the universe, and is capable of [[RealityWarper destroying or recreating any aspect of existence at will]]]]. Fortunately for the sake of the plot, [[spoiler:said personality [[AllPowerfulBystander doesn't really care about anything]] most of the time.]]* In ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' where TimeTravel is as easy as getting yourself shot by a bazooka, Byakuran's ability is to [[spoiler:sync with all his selves in different {{Alternate Universe}}s, with at least ''8 tetratrillion'' worlds where he successfully takes over]]. Later, a potential weakpoint of his was revealed: none of [[spoiler:his alternate selves encountered the Vongola Boxes]], leaving him unaware of their powers, and killing him in one timeline kills him in all of them.* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':** By ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'', the main characters (who were already [[PersonOfMassDestruction People of Mass Destruction]] to start with) became obscenely powerful after the TimeSkip and had to have their powers nerfed by the use of {{Power Limiter}}s and extensive use of AntiMagic fields. The ''[[Audioplay/StrikerSSoundStageX SSX Sound Stage]]'' and the ''[[Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaViVid ViVid]]'' manga solved this issue by completely switching focus to follow the new, weaker characters, but ''[[Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce Force]]'' went the opposite direction by introducing villains with the ''even more'' broken power of ''complete immunity to all magic'', forcing the characters to essentially ditch their old powersets in favor of new weapons of [[FlawedPrototype questionable reliability]].** The protagonist of ''Force'', Tohma. He starts out rather basic for this series, but then [[spoiler:he becomes fully infected and is turned into a Zero Divider, [[CursedWithAwesome a person who can cause everyone around him to fall unconscious and possibly die, doing so completely subconsciously.]].]]** Reinforce Eins, [[AllYourPowersCombined who could use any spell known to a mage whose linker core had been drained with the Book of Darkness]], except that her versions of the copied spells were ''way'' more powerful than the originals. She was also able to completely negate ''simultaneous'' high level bombardment spells from Nanoha and Fate, and even when Nanoha did manage to penetrate her shields [[NighInvulnerability she didn't take any visible damage]]. So naturally, she was TooPowerfulToLive after her HeelFaceTurn, because none of the other villains would have posed any threat to her.* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'':** Jack Rakan is referred to as a "real-life broken video game character" in canon. [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Through skill alone]] he tosses around skyscraper-sized swords with ease, copies physics-defying sword techniques with a glance, and destroys pocket dimensions by ''flexing'', explicitly defying the laws of magic with [[BoisterousBruiser sheer]] [[CrazyAwesome awesomeness]].** Thousand Master Nagi is established to somehow be even ''worse'', though the effect is mitigated by his reliance on a cheatsheet to cast spells and his greatest feats [[SecondHandStorytelling taking place off-camera]]. His "power"? Being invincible.** Fate also has a game-breaking ability: [[spoiler:access to the power of the mage who created the Magic World, effectively making him a RealityWarper as long as he remains there.]]** The Lifemaker, who goes beyond mere RealityWarper to RealityMaker: [[spoiler:within the realm of the Magical World, he's practically omnipotent (logical enough, since he created said Magical World). He's vulnerable to "real" mages, from the physical world, but even compared to them he's tremendously strong. Only Nagi "Invincible" Springfield has ever been confirmed to have beaten this guy in combat.]]** [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Evangeline AK McDowell]], whose implied power level is so high that Fate ran away from her, stating that he would be at a disadvantage fighting against her. And when she loses any fight, most of the time it's suggested that [[ILetYouWin she wanted to lose]].** Negi had his own Pactio card for a short while, which [[AllYourPowersCombined gave him access to every single one of his harem's pactio cards for his own use, and their additional powers]]. He only used it [[spoiler:to fight Rakan, and even then, it took a ridiculous amount of additional planning to just scrape a de-facto draw]]; after that, he had it cancelled immediately.* TheHero of ''LightNovel/MaoyuuMaouYuusha'' is this in a nutshell. If he ever got in a fight, ''any fight'', he's guaranteed to win. The only thing that's stopping him is that he's not trying to cause a war, but instead have world peace by working alongside Demon Queen.[[spoiler: He is however vulnerable to an entire rifle using army firing enchanted bullets at him.]]* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':** Itachi Uchiha. His genjutsu was so powerful he could MindControl others without making eye contact with them. An exaggerated portion of the anime is spent detailing how the main character learned how to counter this kind of technique, only for it to be revealed that Itachi's version can't be countered the normal way. And that's before he brings out his [[PowerArmour trump card]] which just ''happens'' to be equipped with a shield that can counter almost any attack, ''and'' a sword which can trap the victim in a world of eternal drunken dreams!** Madara Uchiha. His Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan gives him access to the most broken abilities in the series, and this at some point evolved into the Rinnegan, THE most Broken eye power in the series, allowing him to resist a [[OneHitKill Rasenshuriken]]. His fire-based jutsu, an element notorious for being ineffective, is the first of its kind to do significant damage to the heroic cast via dropping two meteors on them. He can also use Wood Release, an element that Uchiha shouldn't be able to use (due to stealing the 1st Hokage's DNA). Oh, and let's not forget that [[spoiler:he's an immortal zombie with unlimited chakra that will regenerate from any damage done to him. And he hijacked the resurrection jutsu controlling him, meaning no one can control him any more]]. Then he was [[spoiler:truly resurrected in a living body and become the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki.]]** The Sage of the Six Paths. Not ONLY did he CREATE the techniques that descended to the series's present day, he also saved the world from the original EldritchAbomination and split the beast in half, creating nine beasts that threatened the world on their own. With his own power, the Sage also created Earth's moon as a prison for the original beast's corpse. On his deathbed.** [[spoiler:Tobi, as host of the Ten-Tails,]] has a working facsimile of Sage's powers, and has shown the ability to negate aforementioned [[spoiler:zombie regneration]], spam tailed-beast bombs and erect impassable barriers, as well as use a new element that is as malleable as the Kazekage's sand (although in a more fluid and highly cohesive fashion) and is as destructive as the Tsuchikage's Dust Release (basically meaning liquid black holes that violate the Law of Conservation by erasing all matter not protected by natural energy); [[spoiler:Naruto's Sage Mode]] is just about the only thing shown to be capable of hurting him, but his regeneration is on par with Tsunade's.** Kaguya [[spoiler:ate the forbidden fruit of the Shinju which gave her godlike powers]]. She was singlehandedly able to end wars and destroy opposition, so much so that she was worshiped as a goddess. When we see her fight [[spoiler:she is for purposes of the series indestructible, with the only thing that can stop her being a sealing justsu her sons created to stop her.]]* Eva Unit-01 from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', which effectively becomes a GodModeSue after [[AppendageAssimilation absorbing Zeruel's S2 Engine]]. She's kept in stasis or on standby for most of the remaining episodes, and Shinji spends much of ''End of Evangelion'' [[HeroicBSOD too distraught]] to pilot her. The same holds true in the third ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movie, where Eva Unit-01 [[spoiler:is used to power Misato's CoolAirship, while Shinji is forced to pilot Eva Unit-13 as a replacement]].* ''Manga/OnePiece'':** Whitebeard [[spoiler:can cause tsunamis with his Earthquake causing devil fruit, in a world consisting almost entirely of small islands]]. Specifically referred to in-universe as the power that can destroy the world. No wonder he's been in the background so much.** The Logia fruits as a whole have the potential to be this, as one characteristic that almost all of them share is the ability to allow their user to become the element on which they are based, albeit with the element's weaknesses (for example, Crocodile, the user of the Sand Sand fruit, cannot turn into sand if he is wet), thus rendering them virtually immune to physical attacks. Eneru can turn into electricity, and would've just effortlessly steamrolled over everyone in the Skypeia arc if Luffy's powers [[ContrivedCoincidence didn't just happen to make him a living insulator.]] While Blackbeard's Devil Fruit lacks that ability, it has the ability to cancel all other Devil Fruit powers if it hits the target. [[spoiler: He also has access to a (currently unknown) method to give himself a secondary Devil Fruit power (something that would normally kill the user,) which he uses to steal Whitebeard's power after his death.]]*** Eneru in particular was so ridiculously overpowered that the story had to let him [[TheBadGuyWins get away with his master plan to travel to the moon]] just so he could be PutOnABus (though fortunately his secondary goal to destroy Skypeia on his way out was ultimately foiled.)*** This is deconstructed a bit after the TimeSkip. As it turns out the most powerful characters, including many of those who reside in the [[DeathWorld New World]], have access to KiAttacks that can bypass the NighInvulnerability that Logia fruits grant. One New World-based character even states that Logia users tend to not last long in the New World, since they're so used to their powers being an example of this trope that they tend to find out the hard way that they aren't anymore. True to that, three villainous characters with Logia powers have been introduced since the TimeSkip, every one of them [[CurbstompBattle taken down with very little effort.]]** Apart from being a super robot ''thing'' with FrickinLaserBeams, NighInvulnerability and SuperStrength, Kuma can use his Devil Fruit power to basically teleport anything anywhere he wants to by 'pushing' whatever he touches. He can defeat absolutely anyone in a single hit by teleporting a fruit user into, say, [[SuperDrowningSkills the ocean]] or anyone else into an active volcano. He can also "push" things that aren't even physical, like pushing the fatigue out of somebody and into somebody else, and pushed the pain out of Luffy's wounds. [[spoiler:Luckily he seems to be a mostly decent fellow, or at least to have no pressing reason to kill the Straw Hat crew, considering he beat them all at once easily. He also was once on the Revolutionary Army's side, and thus willing to help Dragon's son, but now that he's been roboticized, he is now the Straw Hats' enemy.]]** Sugar, who serves Doflomingo, has the Hobby-Hobby power. She can turn anything she touches into a toy. From great big animals, to people, to giants, there seems little she can't turn into a toy with a single touch of her body, though she has to touch you. A person restraining her won't be affected. And once a toy, she can place a {{geas}} on the person to make them loyal to the crew, so the toy cannot fight back no matter how much it wants to. And as for rescuing the cursed people [[spoiler:it likely wouldn't happen because once you become a toy all of history forgets you even existed. Friends, family, loved ones, and enemies will no longer remember you or even that there really was a person with your name.]]** Robin's Devil Fruit allows her to sprout limbs on any surface. She almost never gets into fights, because fights go two ways for her: she immediately sprouts two arms on the enemy's shoulders and snaps their neck, or she gets nullified before she can do exactly that.* Saitama in ''Manga/OnePunchMan'' can, as the title suggests, beat anything in one punch. ANYTHING. In a world where ''{{kaiju}}'' make regular appearances. The manga usually parodies this concept, as the main character is a total InvincibleHero who is bored out of his mind because no one is strong enough to make him use even a third of his true strength and whose backstory is disappointingly simple to the point of boring.* During the final climatic battle of the Yellow chapter in ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', it turns out that Yellow apparently has the ability to absorb energy directly into her body as to amplify her ''other'' ability, SuperEmpowering. Giovanni states that the attack she and Pika unleashed, "Megavolt", is ''10x stronger'' than a regular Thunderbolt, an attack with the base power of ''95''. Thankfully, with the constantly rotating cast, she has never really had the chance since to try this again.* Hiko Seijuro XIII of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' has been described by the author as a "Joker in the Card Deck", being the GodModeSue of the series. The fact that the author realizes this is also the reason why he rarely appears.* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':** Sailor Saturn can end the world simply by bringing her glaive down. She uses her power a grand total of once - to essentially kill everything on Earth in a BatmanGambit to chase away Master Pharaoh 90. The [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]] dodges it by showing people ''stopping'' Saturn from ending the world.** Sailor Pluto ''controls time itself'' and is aware of the future. The [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] depicts her stopping time a grand total of once at the cost of her life. In the anime she only pretends to die instead of actually dying, though whatever foreknowledge she has, she refuses to divulge and she has a strict code of honor about not interfering with the flow of time. She largely spends the series as a background character except when needed to move the plot, and largely falls out of the series entirely after ''Sailor Moon S''.** The title character [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist explicitly has the power of resurrection]] and in the present revives everyone on Earth, while her future self reincarnates Sailor Pluto as a human in the present day. In the anime she does not explicitly have resurrection as a power and reviving people after death is nearly impossible (only twice in the series do the main characters recover from death, and largely only because of the way they died in the second instance).** Beyond this, Sailor Moon's final power has her getting the combined power of the other eight Sailor Senshi poured into her, including the above mentioned Saturn. By the final story arc this renders the rest of the cast canon fodder.* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'':** Alastor is the God of Atonement. Manifesting physically is his "I Win" card. In the novels (and movie), he plays this to incinerate the first villain. The anime saves this for the climax of the first season, in which [[spoiler:he blows up everything, sends the {{Big Bad}}s fleeing, and saves the city from an impending overload of energy all by just showing up]]. He doesn't have to fight at all--he's ''just that powerful''. However [[spoiler:it's supposed to kill the Flame Haze that does it (Shana thankfully is capable of surviving it)]] and the manifestation requires a ''truly '''MASSIVE''''' amount of [[LifeEnergy Power of Existence]]; unless there's an external source nearby, his mere presence in the human world would create a [[ApocalypseHow reality-killing distortion]].** The Snake of the Festival is the God of ''Creation'', and ''he'' seems to have no problems showing off: infinite power, immunity to flame, PrehensileHair, and a sword that [[spoiler:causes anyone who tries blocking it to sustain heavy injuries (Blutsager)]]. Plus the whole "Creator" bit.* ''Anime/{{Shinzo}}'': The Mushrambo upgrade makes the trio (Mushra, Saago, and Kutall) unstoppable when they [[FusionDance fuse together]]. His first appearance is bad enough and further alterations make him even more overpowered. The villains recognize they can't beat him and so their plans involve exploiting the transformation somehow. At the end of the first season, all they can do is summon an ''evil'' Mushrambo because nothing else is up to the task.* ''Manga/SoulEater'':** Shinigami started Shibusen to have humans fight kishin because he could not. If he had been freed from Death City when Asura was, the main cast would have had nothing to do because he was strong enough to defeat him on his on. As it is, he's kept effectively useless (combat-wise at the very least) [[BarrierMaiden within]] Death City while the students and his beleaguered staff do the dirty work for him. Aside from the one fight when Asura was inside the city, all we get is tantalising hints via flashbacks and his son, of what this grim reaper's capable of.** Deconstructed with Excalibur; it is the most powerful sword in existence, but he is too annoying to be tolerated by anyone.** Asura himself. Only Shingami was strong enough to defeat it, and even by the end of the series the protagonists are no match for him. [[spoiler:And he's got CompleteImmortality]], explaining why Shinigami didn't kill him.* ''[[Anime/TenchiMuyo Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki]]'': Tenchi and Z, who is introduced later, possess powers from something that's even more powerful than [[spoiler:''the Goddesses that made the universe''.]] Even ''before'' the feats of the 3rd [=OVA=], the 2nd not only has Tenchi effortlessly escaping from inside the event horizon of a black hole, he did this not by moving faster than light or teleportation, but by ''sheer brute force'', as he ''destroyed the black hole in the process''.* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':** [[Manga/YuGiOh The manga]] zig-zags the trope with the Exodia cards, which singlehandedly gave Yugi his second victory against Kaiba's much more powerful deck. Not long afterward, they were pitched into the sea by a rival using a cheap ploy. It's anyone's guess how much an instant win would have helped out Yugi in the following arcs. As time went on, however, Exodia was shown to be the very definition of AwesomeButImpractical, riddled with weaknesses and drawbacks, the least of which being the issue of drawing all five cards out of a deck of at least forty without Yugi's insane luck of the draw on your side. Unless someone had a deck specifically revolving around Exodia, using the thing was extremely difficult, and even then there were inherent problems, as shown when Yugi fought the first Rare Hunter. The individual pieces could be dead draws when a duelist needed a strong monster, and they vulnerable to attacks on the hand. One Card Destruction could spell ruin for the mighty Forbidden One. Ultimately, Exodia stopped showing up in its vanilla form, and duelists instead went for different incarnations of it; Gozaboro Kaiba's Exodia Necross, or Adrian Gekko's Exodius, the Ultimate Forbidden Lord.*** The God Cards are immune to basically everything except massive brute force. By the end of Battle City, Yugi had obtained all three, and he spent the rest of the series, filler, or spinoffs either getting them stolen or just not drawing them.*** The worst one was the Devil's Avatar from ''YuGiOhR'', used by the main villain - on top of possessing godly immunity, being unaffected by even the other God Cards bar Ra, it was also impossible to overpower with brute force, with its ATK always being slightly higher than the strongest card on the field. It required a custom card to elevate another God enough to force a ''draw.''** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' has Super Fusion, a focal point of the third season and gained permanently in the fourth. This little number could fuse together any two monsters, even if the opponent was controlling them, essentially letting the user make their own cards. Every time it was used, it immediately shifted the balance of the duel - and that was just in the game; the card could also fuse together just about anything, including living beings and entire universes. It was only used to fuse something besides cards once, and its user, Judai, spent most of the final season either playing friendly duels that didn't warrant ungodly power or conveniently not drawing it. ** ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'' has the Shining Draw ability possessed by the protagonist Yuma Tsukumo when fused with Astral, which allows him to create any ZEXAL Weapon he wants... and later, any card he wants. Every ZEXAL Weapon conveniently possesses [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands exactly the correct abilities to win the current duel,]] and they can be alarmingly complex - presumably, the only reason Yuma doesn't just declare that the cards he creates with Shining Draw automatically win the Duel is out of fairness. Add in the fact that Yuma's deck is very OTK-friendly, and Yuma spends much of the second series either out of commission or unable to fuse with Astral just so that every single episode didn't become "summon Hope, Shining Draw, win."* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' Raizen is stated to have once been the most powerful demon in the entire series. His power was so great that the other Two Kings of Demon World could be easily defeated if he was currently in his prime. What is preventing Raizen from using this power? He's starving. Raizen's power comes from eating human flesh and he gave up the practice hundreds of years ago. Notably on his '''death bed''' Raizen still has S class demon power on par with Yusuke's current powers who as far as S class demons are concerned is a runt in the litter. Raizen is said by everyone who knew him in his prime as the most powerful demon that had ever lived and that his power was so great that his enemies would "piss their pants" if they saw him in action.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]* ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'' ran into this with some of the characters it featured; many of them, while normally ''not'' overpowered in their own books, where way too powerful for the current situation to progress without disabling, hindering, or even ''[[ThePlotReaper killing]]'' them to prevent the story being broken. For example Darkhawk is probably the most powerful hero kidnapped by Arcade, so much so that he could probably have [[CuttingTheKnot cut the knot]], blasted through Arcade's defenses, and broken Arcade's legs in an hour or so. Naturally he loses his armor (the source of his powers) in issue 3 to keep the whole thing from ending in 5 pages flat.* Comicbook/CaptainAtom, even in continuities where he's not a step or two away from Doctor Manhattan (who was originally Atom before the story was retooled), has a wide assortment of powers which should theoretically make him as strong as Superman or Martian Manhunter. He's only held back by the fact that [[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes he's not that bright]] and that if his containment suit is ruptured, he'll die (and presumably take out a lot of property & lives in the ensuing explosion).* Monica Rambeau, the second ComicBook/CaptainMarVell, is rarely used for this very reason. She has a myriad of superpowers, including (but not limited to) flight, light-speed travel, and the ability to transform into a being of living energy. Naturally, she falls into Flash territory where she needs to be neutralized very quickly just to give the other [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] something to do.* Creator/{{Disney}} comics:** Super Goof, that is, WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} with ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'s powers''. There's a reason he's rarely used in serious stories, even with him being saddled by ''two'' {{Drama Preserving Handicap}}s (namely, [[HourOfPower his powers coming from special peanuts that have a time limit]], and [[CloudCuckooLander being Goofy]]). ''ComicBook/{{Ultraheroes}}'' is one of the few times he appears in a serious story, and in his first battle in the second chapter he quickly inflicts a CurbStompBattle to the mightiest of the villains. He's quickly saddled with ''another'' DramaPreservingHandicap by Gus wolfing down his peanuts to keep him out of the way until the final showdown, when there's finally someone who can fight him.** ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' has Xadhoom, who is a {{Physical God}}dess who can hear radio signals, travel faster than light, can produce any form of energy with enough power to [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up planets]], and, being an EnergyBeing, is effectively invulnerable and immortal (hitting her with enough kinetic or gravitational energy will knock her out, but it takes ''a lot'' of kinetic or gravitational energy and she'll recover quick enough). And that's her being WillfullyWeak ([[spoiler:as using her true power would mean a loss of self-control and death by PhlebotinumOverload]]): with her true power she could easily ''wipe out the universe with a gesture and then remake it''. To hamper her, the writers tended to put her into situations where she couldn't go even halfway to her self-imposed limits (as she's sensible to collateral damage, thus she won't use so much energy to kill innocents) and made her enemies {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es who are DangerouslyGenreSavvy enough they have found ''two'' different working methods to contain or kill her (maybe three, but the third one relied on tricking her into wearing the helmet containing the device and she saw through it so we don't see if it could have worked).* ''Comicbook/DoctorStrange''. A long term editorial problem concerns just why Strange can't wave his hands and fix everything. Whenever the good doctor gets involved in any significant way in Marvel's other books, serious {{Nerf}}age occurs by necessity.* Franklin Richards, son of Reed and Sue Richards of the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour''. A RealityWarper on a cosmic scale, he has been largely [[ComicBookTime kept as a child for decades]] specifically because it has been demonstrated that his mature power levels would be so far off the scale that he would become virtually unusable as a character.* ComicBook/{{Firestorm}} can restructure molecular bonds. This grants him a wide variety of superpowers that make him an insanely powerful demigod. His primary weaknesses are that his powers are really hard to use even if you're a genius nuclear physicist and that Firestorm is a FusionDance of people who don't always like each other. He also has a WeaksauceWeakness of being unable to directly alter organic matter without debilitating side effects.* There's no reason Franchise/TheFlash shouldn't see the villain and have them tied up and in prison before they have a chance to react. Instead he gets treated like a normal person with a few arbitrarily chosen speed based abilities, with one of the most baffling ones being the ability to [[IntangibleMan vibrate through solid objects]]. Lampshaded a bit in the ComicBook/{{New 52}} where Barry Allen is informed how fast he can process sensory input is the biggest bottleneck to his powers. At one point he gets shot due to over-thinking, and reverts to just processing the super-speed environment on a somewhat instinctual level.** This was explored in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' and ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion''. In the former he is made of pure speed and is able to see the narrator in AnotherDimension, although he can no longer talk with anyone except Superman, because he's too fast (only Superman's supersenses can hear him), and he's so fast he's constantly blurry, even when standing still. In the latter a future Flash is the sole police force on the entire (heavily populated) planet Mercury, and The Spectre mentions that he is forever alone, unseen by most people in the city he guards "though all feel his presence".* Freedom Ring, a young hero who had a ring made from the Cosmic Cube that allowed him to [[RealityWarper bend reality to his will within a 30-foot sphere of reach]]. He was even able to make a full recovery from a nearly-fatal blow from the Abomination just by ''willing it''. He was KilledOffForReal just a few issues later, and so writers never got to abuse his powers outside his own book.* PlanetEater extraordinaire ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, subject to StrongAsTheyNeedToBe, is often this, typically serving as AlwaysABiggerFish when he's not a villain.* ComicBook/GhostRider started out only being physically difficult to injure thanks to being a flaming skeleton along with low-level superhuman strength and a couple of other minor abilities. Over the years, the Ghost Riders have gotten steadily more powerfu; they reform instantly from any physical damage, are impossible to KO, have unlimited physical strength, can create and produce as much hellfire as they want as much as they want as strong as they want, have the penance stare as an autowin, several other abilities, and can only be harmed by weapons created from the Christian heaven or other high-level magic. So of course magic or weapons to imprison them, separate them from their hosts or even kill their hosts become common with several of their powers given a slew of weaknesses to keep them from easily ending stories. ''ComicBook/AllNewGhostRider'' provides another solution: have a Ghost Rider whose powers come from a different source.* In ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' it turns out [[spoiler:the Plutonian]] has absolute-level [[RealityWarper manipulation of reality]]. The people who know have (reasonably) decided that the knowledge of the full extent of power must at all costs be kept from them so to stop GoMadFromTheRevelation.* ''ComicBook/JusticeSociety'' featured Jakeem Thunder, who had an all-powerful genie who could do anything he asked. The problem was that the genie often took wishes too literally, and so he was hamstrung... but even ''then'', the writers had to come up with constant reasons for why Jakeem either wasn't around, or why he was taken out within seconds (Mordru and other villains would wisely take Jakeem out ''first''). Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, would also suffer similar fates, being one of the few beings as powerful as Superman on Earth.* ''Comicbook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'':** The Legion were given a device they called the Miracle Machine by a race of NeglectfulPrecursors. Its power? Nothing less than [[RealityWarper turning your thoughts into reality]]. It's usually relegated to their trophy room, because [[DrunkWithPower power corrupts]], and it would be a shame if they saved a few billion lives while getting corrupted... or something. A later author wrote a plot specifically to remove the literal DeusExMachina from the plot forever (and make Matter Eater Lad [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower useful]] in the process).*** At the end of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', Superman managed to create one to reverse the space-time schenanigans from most of the story. It's mentioned as only having a single use (though a later story showed that it's mere existance afterwards was a warp in space-time as well, albiet in a more smaller area), and that it's so complex, Superman will never be able to create another one again due to the fact that its magnificence erased its blueprints from his memory.** Minor character Duplicate Boy can duplicate anyone else's superpowers. He's not in the Legion (he's a hero on some other planet), and a bit of a lunkhead besides.* This is why the ComicBook/MartianManhunter rarely gets used to his full potential, both in the comics and on ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. He has each of the various powers of Franchise/{{Superman}} (although with lesser magnitude; "how" much less varies with writers), but also with ShapeShifting, {{Telepathy}}, MindManipulation, and [[{{Intangibility}} phasing]], amongst other powers. Okay, so he's [[WeaksauceWeakness vulnerable to fire]], but he's been shown to get over that. With the above mentioned problems with Superman, they're even worse for J'onn, which might be one reason why [[spoiler:they killed him off]] in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''. Lampshaded during ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'': [[spoiler:When Black Lantern J'onn is fighting Hal and Barry, he picks up the fire station they are in and throws it into another building, saying "I'm as powerful as Superman. Why does everyone ''forget'' that?" Indeed, by the end of the issue he's incapacitated them both.]]* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'':** SelfDemonstrating/{{Loki}} is only a SquishyWizard by ''Asgardian'' standards. [[note]]In Asgard, the kids are all as strong as Franchise/SpiderMan, for comparison.[[/note]], so in addition to vast magical power (he is only listed as surpassed by Odin and perhaps Karnilla, another Thor character, so his exact magical abilites are unknown in comparison to someone like Comicbook/DoctorStrange or the ComicBook/ScarletWitch), Loki is also super strong, super durable, experienced in combat, a genius (though this aspect is limited by his InferioritySuperiorityComplex, [[TheUnfavourite Unfavorite-ness]], and need to defeat Thor no matter what), and is so much of ConsummateLiar that he has tricked Mephisto (aka the devil), ComicBook/NormanOsborn, SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom, Odin, and the heroes of Earth several times over. At least some of these traits need nerfing to keep the story alive. He was later depowered after dying and being resurrected in the body of a child in order to keep his ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' and ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' story engaging, however he was later aged back up which should have restored most if not all of his previous magical abilities. This trope is subsequently Lampshaded in the first issue of his solo series ''Comicbook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'', where he is a good(ish) guy with a series of captions showing he's consciously making a better story, because as an Asgardian god, he is a creature of story (and also intentionally taking the hard route to avoid temptation to fall back into his old evil ways).--->"Now, I know what you're thinking: WHY am I falling to my death while a man who makes terrible life decisions shoots an arrow at my face? eh? Why don't I just MAGIC everything better? Tell the universe a nice BIG story? "Then Loki wiggled his fingers and everything was fine. Also his mission was complete and he had a pony and balloons and a cosmic cube. The end." It's not a very GOOD story, is it?"*** The same series also has an [[spoiler:evil older Loki from the future]] with even ''more'' power and the benefit of foreknowledge running around. What stops him from breaking the story? TemporalMutability.** Thor's father Odin is virtually omnipotent to the point where heavy hitters who can easily destroy planets are ants next to him, and he's shown to have power to annihilate entire galaxies. For the most part, stories need some kind of plot device like the Odin Sleep to keep him out.** Surtur is one of the few villains Odin is allowed to fight against. One of his first attacks was destroying a galaxy, and it was done to re-forge his magic sword.* ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'':** [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Ambrose Chase]] had concentration-based RealityWarper powers that allowed him to alter physics at will in a small radius around himself. Barring taking him completely by surprise (like a particular villain did by battling him in a universe that ran on HorrorTropes and using a bullet of AppliedPhlebotinum, hence the past tense), he was practically unkillable. [[spoiler:It turns out it didn't take; Chase used his power to freeze his own injury and trap himself in a pocket dimension until the others could extract and rescue him.]]** The BigBad, Randall Dowling. His power allows him to [[MindVirus spread his own consciousness to minds around it]], basically screwing around with any parts of their memories at will, making people into {{Manchurian Agent}}s, or simply [[HiveMind turning other humans near him into more of himself]]. Notably, [[spoiler:he never even gets to ''use'' said power before the heroes drop him down a ravine, possibly because any conceivable combat scenario against him would involve the heroes having to fight enormous amounts of other people, provided they weren't ''already'' parts of him without being aware of it.]]* ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'':** Jesse Custer, the eponymous preacher, has a CompellingVoice. Although the voice has some limitations (the victim must be able to hear and understand him), it still would allow Jesse to solve most of the problems he encounters rather easily. For this reason, the writer has him decide to avoid using it and occasionally even ''forget'' to use it so dramatic scenes can play out. ** The Saint Of Killers is a seemingly invulnerable gunslinger with a pair of demonic revolvers for weapons that never run out of ammo, always hit their targets, and always kill what they hit. His first act after gaining his signature weapons, forged by Satan? Kill Satan. [[spoiler:In the end, he kills ''God Himself''.]]-->'''The Saint of Killers''': ''[after taking a nuke to the face, unharmed]'' Not enough gun.* Morpheus, the title character of ''Comicbook/TheSandman'', is more powerful than most gods and only cosmic level beings like Lucifer are a real threat to him. On the other hand, he is weighed down with the rules and duties of his office, which renders him more impotent than many of his own dream creations. He is only able to use his full power in directly protecting the Dreaming (which does not necessarily mean protecting himself), and only while in the heart of the Dreaming. In the end, [[spoiler:The Furies -- minor mythological creatures from Greek Mythology -- kill him because the act of spilling family blood has rendered him a lawful quarry for their wrath. That, and he ''[[DeathSeeker wanted]]'' to be punished for the act.]]* His name is ComicBook/TheSentry. He may be [[TheGrimReaper the Angel of Death]] (it's implied he was the one who caused [[Literature/TheBible the Plagues of Egypt]]). He was used by Norman Osborn on the ComicBook/DarkAvengers team ''because'' he has Story Breaker Power. After an intense, multi-issue battle with the Hand in Japan in ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'', Franchise/SpiderMan points out that the fight would've been over in five seconds had the Sentry been there to help. Severe mental illnesses kept him from doing too much until his death.* ComicBook/TheSpectre. The wrath of God personified. Each major DC crossover event includes the obligatory scene explaining just why he can't help out this time... or he just gets mind-controlled by the bad guys. He ''did'' actually help out in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' (where, with a bit of magical assistance, he fought the BigBad, who had already absorbed the title's Infinite Earths, to a standstill) and in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' (pity the BigBad didn't have a soul).* ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has a Spidey that was still fused to the Enigma Force, still allowing him to be ComicBook/CaptainUniverse. Consequently, he should be able to end the saga by going over and flash-frying [[Characters/SpiderManTheInheritors Morlun and his kin]]. When our Spidey asks him why he just doesn't do that, that Spidey says that he can't, as the Enigma Force can only stay at that universe. On the plus side, though, that means Morlun and the others can't waltz in without risking getting flash-fried by Cosmic Spidey... only they did, and promptly murdered him.* Franchise/{{Superman}}. Not every writer can make his battles interesting, as he shrugs off pretty much ''anything'' not {{Kryptonite|Factor}} as easily as [[ShootingSuperman those idiot grunts whose bullets he probably doesn't even notice]]. Making something other than Kryptonite, Darkseid, or Doomsday challenge him without {{Nerfing}} Supes severely (see the early seasons of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'') is not a task just any writer can accomplish.* When ComicBook/{{Thanos}} acquired ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet with all six Infinity Gems he gained absolute control over past, present and future, [[RealityWarper bent reality to his will]], could exist in any location and to move any object, [[YourSoulIsMine could steal and control souls of both living and dead]], had the most powerful {{Telepathy}} in the Universe and gained access to every source of power that ever existed or will exist. There was nothing that could defeat him, neither Marvel's greatest superheroes, [[TheGrimReaper Death]], [[{{Satan}} Mephisto]] or all-powerful cosmic gods, including The Eternity, who is the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the Universe itself. The main reason Thanos ultimately lost in the end was because the Gauntlet made him ''too'' powerful [[spoiler:meaning he could not be with his beloved Death since he was so far above her]]. The Heart of the Universe from ''Marvel Universe: The End'' is basically the same thing only on a multiversal scale, enabling him to defeat every single being in the Marvel Universe, culminating in thwarting the second biggest one of them all, The Living Tribunal (who was more powerful than the complete Infinity Gauntlet). After defeating the Living Tribunal however, he realises THE biggest one of them all, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The One Above All]], is still infinitely more powerful than him, [[spoiler:and TOAA has completely [[OutGambit out-gambitted]] Thanos into recreating the entire Multiverse, but with a few flaws removed.]]* This has been done right at least once, in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. Dr. Manhattan is a PhysicalGod who wins the Vietnam War practically singlehandely and ''should'' easily dissect the problem in the comic and excise it... except TheChessmaster plays not against his powers but his post-empowering uncertainty to get him to leave the planet. He's also hamstrung by his inability to see time like we do- he knows precisely what powers he's going to use, when he's going to use them, what they're going to do. He doesn't choose to use them, he just watches himself using them. He even describes the tachyon interference with his future sight, in the climax, as "freeing", allowing him to truly ''act'' for the first time in forty years.* Unless handled carefully, Franchise/WonderWoman's lasso's power to force any being to tell the truth will naturally kill any mystery from a story, since deception spoken by any person who faces this power is impossible.* ''ComicBook/XMen'':** Professor Charles Xavier is the most powerful psychic in the world. By rights, any problems the X-Men face should be dealt with at the speed of thought. As a result, most of the major plotlines the team faces start with either a DeusExitMachina or a lecture on MindOverManners. There's also a vast array of [[PokeInTheThirdEye anti-telepathy technology]] that will pop up whenever the plot demands it; at one point a high-schooler built an anti-telepathy helmet using plans he downloaded off the internet, then beat up Xavier with a baseball bat. It wasn't one of the Professor's finer moments.** One of the reasons Phoenix hasn't been revived is because her canonically godlike abilities and strong friendships with her team would easily end the 'Wolverine vs. Cyclops civil war' that the writers seem intent on following. It's stated, in-universe, that the only reason they're fighting is because she's no longer there to mediate between them!** Scarlet Witch's reality bending powers are considered way over the top. Once she remade the universe into the House of M, and depowered 90% of the mutant population that they had to nerf her down to the point she can't handle the Phoenix Force.* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the DC Universe, and thus generally falls victim to some sort of DramaPreservingHandicap at least once per story. She notoriously has a WeaksauceWeakness that leaves her powerless if she is gagged, which is usually exploited in team-ups just so that she can't solve the problem before the rest of the [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]] get out of bed.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]* ''Fanfic/HogyokuExMachina'' has Ichigo. He spends most of the fic with most of his power sealed off yet still has 3 times the reiatsu of any captain. [[GodModeSue At full power however...]]* ''FanFic/ImperfectMetamorphosis'' has [[spoiler:Rin Satsuki]], who can negate, absorb, and to a limited extent redirect all but the most powerful magical attacks. Then she was [[AndIMustScream involuntarily transformed]] into a BlobMonster who gains the powers of anyone she absorbs. ''Then'' she absorbs [[SuperpoweredEvilSide EX-Rumia]], who was already a powerful and indestructible FlyingBrick and a horrifically deadly WalkingWasteland. When most of ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'''s SuperpowerLottery winners (see below) attacked her at the same time they did little more than annoy her, and that was ''before'' she absorbed [[spoiler:Kaguya and Mokou]] and gained CompleteImmortality. Fortunately she doesn't want to hurt anyone, and has spent most of her time defending herself, running away, or hiding.* ''Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami'':** The Royal Death Note lets the user bypass the rule that they must know their target's face and full name. The whole plot of ''Death Note'' - Light's hunt for L's name - becomes pointless, since Dark can simply write "L" and kill him. Except...** There is also a Life Note, which allows anyone, no matter how they died, to be brought back instantly. The Death Notes are essentially worthless. Except...** There is an Anti Life Note which is immune to the Life Note's powers. (Un)fortunately, the author forgets about this before it has a chance to pay off.** The granddaddy of all of these is the Everything Note, which can do ''everything''. It can be used for resurrection, time travel, superpowers, teleportation and [[MundaneUtility sex]]. As soon as it is introduced, any pretence at being a GambitPileUp story is gone.** On a meta level, the Reset Note grants a metafictional ResetButton to Dark, which lets him {{Retcon}} Khaos's rise to power and making his defeat one of the greatest anticlimaxes ever. If he was smarter about using it, the Reset Note would be even stronger than the Everything Note.* In ''Fanfic/DeathNoteIITheHiddenNote'', the main character KJ was born with Shinigami eyes. Which means that if he gets a Death Note, he can easily kill anyone he doesn't like with one just by looking at them without the cost of half his lifespan. The good news is that KJ is a lot less trigger happy than his father when it comes to killing people.* ''DarthWiki/NewDawn'':** [[TheHero Matthew]], if he'd use his powers a little more ruthlessly. He can create just about any legendary-class weapon except ones he cannot comprehend. He can do just about anything with swords in his MageKiller mode. His Aura Rave Spell gets stronger with every use, and can even be used at half cost and half power...with the boost tacked on!** Shira, the first real villain, can freeze anything in his vicinity. The only reason he lost was because...[[DeathSeeker he kinda wanted to.]]** Nebiros can read your mind based on certain vibrations in the air, and thus use his BarrierWarrior powers to dismantle your attack, dismantle you, and still have time to evilly gloat.** Dolph Gradich, one of the later villains, is basically Matthew 2.0, making swords out of Majitek Nanites, and having an arsenal of spells at his disposal, as well as Matthew's Aura Rave spell.* In ''Manga/ReTake'', Shinji for the first two chapters displays the power to kill Areal by swatting it out of the sky with his [[DeflectorShields AT-field]]. [[spoiler:Later when Asuka gets pregnant, the power he had is [[ItMakesSenseInContext passed onto his child]], but Ghost-Asuka apparently had the same power and when she managed to forgive him she allows him to easily defeat the MP-Evas.]]* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness'': In Act III and onwards, Luna and Falla's [[TimeMaster chrono magic]] easily makes them among the most powerful of Tsukune's gang, if not ''the'' most powerful, to the extent that they were instrumental in the gang's defeat of Alucard in Act IV. Naturally, the author keeps coming up with ways to keep them from going all out to prevent them from rendering everyone else useless, such as [[{{God}} the Almighty's]] law forbidding them from actual TimeTravel, the risk of [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity chrono dementia]], the risk of getting preyed upon by [[SuperPersistentPredator chrono wraiths]], and Babylon keeping track of their chrono magic in order to capture them.* In ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', Ringo is able to [[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling mentally see]] anything he's ever seen before, and can work his way into unfamiliar places from a familiar starting point, including people and unique objects. And he can do it effortlessly and indefinitely. And he can see perfectly in the dark. And he can see things as small as atoms. And he never holds the IdiotBall. The concept of “information is power” really applies with him. He's also [[MindOverMatter telekinetic]], with an enormous range. Thus, unless you magically hide yourself from him, he will ''fuck you up''—and the plot along with you. As Jeft discovered to his sorrow.* ''Fanfic/YetAgain'':** The Oogakari, a family of OC {{God Mode Sue}}s that jump into canon and mess with the plot and help the main characters sort of behind the scenes, but they are far more interested in seeing how messed up things will be once the new plot unfurls than actually bringing peace to the world. The supposed leader of the family, Ghost, is a walking Class Z [[ApocalypseHow apocalypse]] via his time space burning fire, which gives him the power of "denial of phenomena". In layman's terms, he can negate anyone, anything, any EVENT, any CAUSALITY, any MEMORY, any WORLD, any GOD, or any DIMENSION he wishes by burning the time space that makes them up. This includes the events that possess anytime he dies or gets hurt as well. He is confirmed to be the absolute end of his multiverse and can enact it anytime he wants, but doesn't because "he isn't that big of an asshole".** His Sister, Shadow, is right up there as she contains the supposed Goddess (Demon Dragon Goddess... Thing) Zuzushi, that created their multiverse. As a result she has obtained the ability to "create all from nothing". It's been stated but not shown that she is easily capable of manifesting universes on a whim, and even contemplated destroying and recreating the Narutoverse the current story was in after Ghost trapped her in it while a major event occurred in another universe.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]* ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' has the Genie, who with phenomenal cosmic powers can do ''anything'' aside from killing someone, forcing someone to fall in love, or bringing people BackFromTheDead (though Genie implies that he ''can'' perform resurrections, but simply doesn't like doing so). After he’s freed in the first movie his powers are demoted to 'semi-phenomenal, nearly cosmic' for the sequels and ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'', and gets to hold the [[IdiotBall idiot ball]] frequently.* ''Disney/{{Bolt}}'', which is about a dog who thinks he's a superhero when in fact he's simply an actor. One of his powers in his show is a superpowerful bark that can destroy... like 100 mooks, helicopters and cars all at once. Though it's only useful in large open spaces without innocent bystanders.* Zelda from the second sequel to ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' has the power to create Seekers - homing fireballs that can find any target anywhere and never stop seeking them. The only way to stop one is [[spoiler: to break the caster's wand]]. Of course Zelda's plan is gain the Forbidden Arts and the power to destroy - she remembers at the eleventh hour about her Seekers and sends one after Odette. [[spoiler: [[KilledOffForReal It works]]]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]* In the DVDCommentary for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' extended version, Peter Jackson points out and jokes about it that Gandalf could not use the magic he used to turn away the forces of Mordor a second time because he used up all the power in his staff "And all the shops in Minas Trith were sold out of batteries".* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' sequels have this problem with Neo, as at the end of [[Film/TheMatrix the first film]] he is essentially a god of The Matrix, with the power to do anything he damn well pleases while inside it, the only limits being his own imagination and the ultimate parameters of the simulation. Because of this the writers had to considerably tone down his powers from ''[[Film/TheMatrixReloaded Reloaded]]'' onwards (going from a RealityWarper to a FlyingBrick), and up the villain threat. Of course at the end of the first film, the writers didn't know if the movie would be popular enough for a sequel, so this is HandWaved in the sequel as the Agents got an upgrade.* In ''Film/ReturnToOz'', the Ruby Slippers become a literal story breaker once the Nome King is defeated and Dorothy recovers them. [[spoiler: Everything is repaired, and the story pretty much ends.]]* ''Film/XMen'':** As noted above under "Comic Books," Xavier's power is such that most of the movies would be over very, very quickly if he did not frequently get incapacitated or rendered powerless in some way.** In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', Quicksilver gets PutOnABus after the Pentagon raid because, as that raid shows, he is ''downright unstoppable''. While moving at SuperSpeed, simply tapping a person is the practical equivalent of getting hit by a heavyweight boxer, and he can take out an entire room of armed guards so quickly that their bullets weren't even able to reach the people they had shot at when he started.* ''Film/BruceAlmighty'': With the ability to do literally anything (Except affect free will or tell people about his powers), Bruce's powers definitely count. The only reason there's a story at all after Bruce gets his powers is because he's too stupid to remember that he can, in his own words, clean everything up in 5 minutes if he wants to.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'':** Mach gets access to the [[GreatBigBookOfEverything Book of Magic]] in Book 5, and promptly becomes [[GodModeSue the most powerful Adept in history]], able to freely break [[MagicAIsMagicA the rules of magic]] that had been previously established. He's kept in check by HonorBeforeReason; while he could simply blast either side in the plot into ashes by raw power alone, the circumstances under which he became the Robot Adept left him honor-bound to [[InevitableTournament play by the rules that both sides had agreed to]], essentially functioning as a LivingMacGuffin.** Just possessing the Platinum Flute puts an Adept on par with Mach. In the hands of a master musician (like Stile or Clef), it can invoke magic powerful enough to destroy the planet.* In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'', one of the side characters in the last book [[spoiler:has the power to materialize anything, including inter-dimensional portals, out of thin air when he draws them on a paper. Guess what happens when he draws something/someone already there, and then ''erases'' it.]]* The Archive from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is a magical construct that places all recorded human knowledge into a single person. Originally, it was created to mitigate tragedies like the burning of ancient libraries. In the modern age, it means a little girl nicknamed Ivy automatically knows and understands everything people write (bank records, nuclear physics, psychology, emails, tomes of necromancy...) without even trying. She's not the only nigh-omniscient character in the stories, but unlike some others, her understanding comes automatically. She understands science well enough to build her own nukes, she knows enough blackmail material to keep most world leaders in her pocket, her expertise with magic makes her a [[OneManArmy one girl army]] even compared to the protagonist, and [[BigBrotherIsWatching she would become fully aware of any plan against her the moment someone made the mistake of communicating it in written form]]. What keeps her from making all the heroes irrelevant? While Ivy, the child has free will, the Archive doesn't -- the Archive is bound to neutrality, and it takes a considerable effort of will for her to even give out small pieces of knowledge. Even if she could, any steps she took to actually use her power for her own goals would turn every other supernatural nation against her at once, and even her power isn't enough to hold off the wizards, two courts of the fae, the fallen angels, and three nations of vampires all at once. Plus, she's more interested in kitties and otters.* From ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'', Trisana Chandler's [[PowerOfTheStorm weather magic]] is treated as one in-universe, hence why [[spoiler:Ladyhammer magically breaks nearly every bone in her body]]. Whether or not it actually is a story breaker is up for debate: it is extremely powerful and can end any physical threat in seconds, but this is a universe where binding even a powerful mage is very possible with the right preparation.* ''Literature/TheElenium'':** ''The Tamuli'' has mind reading. When a member of the race known as the Shining Ones joins the party (who have this power, among many others), she's able to easily see who TheMole is in the party, and find out that he's basically the BigBad of both the Tamuli series and secretly the BigBad behind everything that happened in the Elenium series as well. Though by this time, the villain's plans have progressed so far that it STILL takes a book and a half to set things right.** When Sparhawk gets control over the Bhelliom, it offers its own suite of ridiculous powers - worldwide teleportation, the ability to pull information from people's minds from a ''lot'' further away than Xanetia can, and at one point it intercedes with the spirit of the world to massively accelerate tectonic activity in one area for a few minutes, causing earthquakes across half the continent. It has other powers that are not used in the narrative proper, such as the ability to instantly kill on contact. Unlike Xanetia, however, this has limitations; [[spoiler:its mind-reading in most cases is limited to a general consensus rather than Xanetia's individual and specific scan, preventing it from locating the bad guys instantly, and the villains can detect Bhelliom in action and are holding hostages that they will hurt or kill if Sparhawk takes the Blue Rose out of its box and starts turning people into frogs or something.]]* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':** Voldemort believes the Elder Wand to be this - and to be fair, it's one of the three Deathly Hallows, making it the Wizarding equivalent of the HolyGrail or TheSpearOfDestiny (though he's ignorant of this history, having been raised a {{Muggle}}). In practice, however, the Elder Wand is a DoomMagnet: those who wield the Elder Wand tend to end up murdered for it, and in the end, it dooms Voldemort himself when he fails to realize that [[spoiler:''Harry'' is its true master]]. When it finally passes into Harry's hands, he chooses to break its curse by never wielding it - and in the movie [[spoiler:he seals the decision by snapping it in two]].** Time-Turners allow you to travel to the past and create a StableTimeLoop, establishing the way it had always been, basically retconning your own story as you see fit. This means that you can never be ambushed or caught off-guard for you will be/have been warned in advance by your future self. Any important event can be witnessed retroactively, so truth can always be established, even when there were no reliable witnesses "the first time". Naturally, these awesome devices were used once to resolve a minor conflict and then forgotten about only to be casually destroyed later, when ignoring them was no longer plausible.** The Marauder's Map was this, thanks to essentially giving Harry information on everything in the school. Rowling had to have it confiscated for most of the fourth book for exactly this reason, and admits that she sometimes wishes she'd had Crouch keep it. * Galbatorix from the Literature/InheritanceCycle is constantly referred to as [[AGodAmI impossible to defeat.]] Not ''only'' does he have over a hundred years of experience over Eragon, as well as [[spoiler:hundreds of Eldunari and another Rider at his disposal]]; his ''voice'' is said to be his greatest weapon. [[spoiler:Up until he discovers the name of the Ancient Language, that is.]]* ''Literature/JackBlank'''s power is his ability to [[{{Technopath}} control and talk to machines]]. The series primary antagonists, the [[PuppeteerParasite Rüstov]], are ''living machines''. One of them is living inside Jack. Normally this means instant death, but Jack's powers keep TheCorruption resulting from the infection in remission involuntarily. In the third installment, ''End Of Infinity'', the Rüstov are GenreSavvy enough to saddle Jack with a DramaPreservingHandicap to prevent him from using his technopath powers against them directly, as well as to speed along the development of his corruption. Once Jack manages to overcome it, he [[spoiler: single-handedly destroys the entire Rüstov race with a wave of his hand by forcibly ripping each one out of their hosts without harming the host bodies, then crushing them with a thought]].* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' has the true language. A NestedStory depicts a hero known as Taborlin the Great, who [[IKnowYourTrueName knew the true name]] of everything and could command it accordingly; after being trapped in a tower, he told the stone to break, allowing him to command the wind to carry him to the ground. A couple only intermittently-properly-pronounced names stuttered out without fluency (the name of the wind) almost qualify in themselves, and when a character accidentally pulls off a full phrase the words instantly [[spoiler:turn a fairy queen, one of the most powerful beings in the world and a literal sexual predator whose entire nature revolves around trapping and never releasing men, into a simpering soft-hearted love-slave that lets him free when he 'bluffs' her with a painfully transparent 'trick'.]]* ''Literature/KnownSpace'':** Creator/LarryNiven once wrote of this problem, which he encountered when he introduced the General Products Hull. The hull couldn't be damaged by anything except gravity [[spoiler:or antimatter]]. Introducing this into the universe could potentially ruin a lot of stories and he ended up setting most of the stories before the hull was invented.** Teela Brown's [[BornLucky "luck gene"]] prevented anything bad from happening to her unless it led to an even better outcome. Niven wrote one last story set after all humans were supremely lucky, then mostly gave up on setting any stories later.* In the ''Literature/{{Liavek}}'' books, if you ask Elmutt a question, the answer he subconsciously prefers will come true. This doesn't seem impressive, until you get to questions like "What will become of me?" or "What could possibly go wrong?" He doesn't seem to be able to change the past, but he ''can'' radically alter people's physical conditions, kill people, more or less brainwash them, and on one occasion doomed a man to be killed by a particular person. Once the first story is over -- when Elmutt knows how his powers work and has sorted out his issues -- it's more or less impossible for a story involving him to have dramatic tension, unless the question is asked by someone who has no idea what they're really doing. He's only had two total appearances in the series -- his origin, and an unnamed but plot-relevant cameo two books later.* Gandalf of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' goes [[PutOnABus offstage for hundreds of pages]] after the Balrog to allow other characters to struggle. He did this earlier in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' as well, as he would often leave Bilbo and the Dwarves to go on other business, leaving them to fall prey to spiders and elves.* ''Literature/{{Necroscope}}'''s Harry Koegh his virtually unlimited teleportation power, and makes the climaxes of his stories anticlimactic, especially combined with the near omniscience his ability to talk to the dead grants. Basically he knows all about you if you've killed people, and can drop a bomb on your head no matter how heavy your defenses.* Lila Black in ''Literature/QuantumGravity'' eventually [[spoiler:becomes consumed entirely by her mechanical half]] and becomes a story breaker as a result. Book four reveals her to be capable of forming just about anything metal, as well as having limited control over metal and machines, and nigh invulnerability; her body reconstructs itself after being smashed to pieces, and doesn't even need to breath. And that's aside from the [[spoiler:Armour, a fey, which can transform any way it likes and tends to trick attacks into backfiring, or the shape-shifting weapon of intent that warps reality in response to what she wants]]. On her return to Demonia she battles through an unspecified number of opponents without the slightest scratch, or even needing to devote much thought to it. The loss of the weapon tones her down in book five, and by the end of the series she is looking less overpowered by deed of simply encountering an even more dangerous opponent.* In an obscure children's book called ''Literature/SamanthaStoneAndTheMermaidsQuest'', Samantha spends much of the book trying to learn how to teleport - both herself and objects. She gradually becomes realistically better at it, able to teleport herself and others, but often not exactly where she intends. But by the end, Samantha is teleporting behind enemies to knock them out, teleporting out of ropes when tied up, and teleporting captured prisoners out of a cell. The villain only undoes this power by binding and gagging her, thus preventing her from [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull casting the spell]]. However, the story ends shortly after that, on a cliffhanger.* The Dragons in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. In the series history, the Targaryen have utilized their dragons as fantasy [=WMD=]s which ensured their dominance over the seven kingdoms. By the present day most of the dragons are extinct, and Daenerys's three new dragons soon become powerful and dreadful creatures that can easily decimate almost anything, and everyone wants them. The main problem is that they are unruly and vicious creatures that even Daenerys can't properly control. And Victarion Greyjoy's dragon horn can bind the dragons to his command.* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse has had a ''lot'' of writers in it over the years. Many of them gave Jedi in general and Luke Skywalker in particular NewPowersAsThePlotDemands. Sometimes it's used well, sometimes it's not. ''The Literature/BlackFleetCrisis'' out of nowhere gave him an unexplained control over rock - he effortlessly collects the ruins of a shattered castle and assembles it in the air, then makes those heavy dark stones change to a different ''kind'' of stone and flow and make a new castle, which forms and closes openings that can be used as doors and windows whenever he wants. No other books have given him anything like this power, and it's never been used again, although the ability to basically [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender waterbend]] stone could certainly have come in handy.** Creator/TimothyZahn, who wrote the first modern EU books and had heroes and villains who relied more on [[GuileHero guile]] than force (or Force), [[http://gabri-jade.livejournal.com/105471.html complained]] about the tendency of writers to make Jedi incredibly powerful, as he considers that boring. On a hilarious side-note, Zahn's main villain (Grand Admiral Thrawn) somehow managed to turn Art Appreciation into a storybreaker power, because he was just that much of a MagnificentBastard.* As a War Wizard, Richard in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series is explicitly capable of almost doing ''anything'' with his magic. Goodkind gets around this trope, though, in that Richard [[HowDoIShotWeb doesn't have the slightest idea how to use it when he wants to]]. It only really works properly when [[DeusExMachina it's time to end the book]].* Noah Watanabe's every-growing power ''does'' break Brian Herbert's ''Timeweb'' trilogy, since he has no KryptoniteFactor and no qualms about interfering for the greater good. However, Herbert deserves a certain amount of credit for keeping him under control for two books without using the IdiotBall.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]* ''Series/TheAlmightyJohnsons'': Mike as Ullr has the supernatural power to win any game and the GenreSavvy to make any challenge he's facing into one. Fortunately for the plot, Mike is TheFettered, as he considers Ullr his SuperPoweredEvilSide.* ''Series/{{Alphas}}'':** Nina Theroux can control people's will simply by looking at them in the eye. The show sometimes makes up excuses as to why she can't just "push" the bad guys left and right (since theoretically it would make the job too easy and a drama television show can't have that). A good example of this is in "Anger Management"; when Nina was questioned why she couldn't "just push [the] kid", she revealed that her power only lasted for a couple of minutes and "Rosen doesn't like to work that way". Well, that's too bad because it would have resolved the conflict MUCH sooner and easier.** We're extremely lucky that Jason Miller, the all-powerful hormonal hive-mind gathering alpha, is just a lonely teen who just wants friends and has no psychotic motives.* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryCoven'':** Misty Day is a gifted witch whose main power is her [[HealingHands ability to resurrect the dead by touching them]]. She can do this to ''anything'' dead, from birds, to alligators, to people, [[HealingFactor to herself after she was burned at the stake]]. Moreover, she can heal ''serious'' damage inflicted upon the corpses of those she revives - she undoes completely burnt off skin and partial bodily decay with contemptuous ease. Misty has resurrected not only herself but two other members of the main cast, and it's gotten to the point where the characters just come to her when someone dies, [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] it as they go. In order to balance this, two characters have taken to destroying the bodies of their victims in order to keep them from being revived.** Possibly why Madison was [[spoiler:killed off in episode three]] - her telekinesis and fire-starting powers would make short work of the zombie army attacking their house, and would stunt Zoe's arc about her necromancy powers.* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':** Illyria started out as very much one of these. That list of powers likely to be story-breakers? She was pretty much all of the above. She specifically dismisses the {{Big Bad}}s of the entire series as being like insects compared to her, and not without justification claimed she was a god to the gods. She was so powerful than one wonders why she even needed an army back in ancient times, save that one recalls there were others like her running around. The heroes didn't (and couldn't) beat her; Illyria failed to conquer the world simply because she lost interest. In short, Illyria put the "cosmic" in CosmicHorrorStory. Until she lost control of her powers due to the [[PunyEarthlings puny human]] body she was reincarnated into, and got a PowerLimiter slapped on her, taking away some of her powers entirely and dialing the rest of them down so she wasn't much stronger than the other protagonists.** Earlier in season one, Angel manages to acquire the Gem of Amarra, a mystical ring described as the equivalent to the Holy Grail for vampires, from Spike in a {{Crossover}} episode from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. This artifact would grant the vampire wearer increased abilities and complete invulnerability to all their usual weaknesses, as demonstrated by [[TortureTechnician Marcus]] earlier when he shrugs off a bow-to-the-heart from Oz and the ability to walk in direct sunlight without erupting in flames. At the end of the episode Angel, who had remained doubtful about keeping the ring or not, decided to destroy it, preventing the show and Angel's fights from being [[ImmortalHero a lot less suspenseful]].* In the fifth season of ''Series/BabylonFive'', although [[TouchedByVorlons Lyta]] can mind-control several dozens of people at the same time, there is ''one'' person she can ''not'' control: [[spoiler:Sheridan, who was also TouchedByVorlons.]]* Samantha from ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' and Jeannie from ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie''. Their powers were pretty much "do anything by wiggling your nose/bobbing your head". If it weren't for the [[UselessSuperpowers random nature]] of their powers and otherworldly relatives, Darren and Major Tony would lead completely idyllic and boring lives.* ''Series/DoctorWho'':** The Doctor is the {{Trope Namer|s}} for the TimeyWimeyBall because without it, he could simply time travel anywhere and change anything, and if he made a mistake just go back again and fix it. This problem was parodied in the Comic Relief parody "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death," which put the Doctor and the Master in a series of time traveling counter-moves to each other.** The Doctor could just evacuate everyone on the doomed space ship that's getting sucked into the sun, sucked into a black hole, crashed into meteors a la the Titanic, etc, in the TARDIS, if it didn't always (in)conveniently get blasted away into space and out of useful range for the episode.** The Doctor is a member of one of the most [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien advanced races]] that the universe ever has or ever will produce. If he seriously applied himself to any single project, he could probably end up [[EmperorScientist running everything]]. However, his short attention span keeps him constantly moving and prevents him from hatching many long-term plans. His seventh incarnation was an unusual exception in that he apparently had a number of elaborate schemes going on. But he [[NiceJobBreakingItHero rarely bothers to clean up after them]].** So many stories would be a lot shorter if the Doctor remembered he can ''read minds'' - any of the [[MysteryFiction Whodunnit]] stories, any stories where someone turns out to be backstabbing the Doctor...* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'':** In the first season, Peter Petrelli can permanently gain anyone's power simply by being near them. It doesn't take long for him to rack up flying, time control, teleportation, and healing. With all of his powers, he should be able to achieve just about any conceivable goal. To keep him as a viable character, he's given amnesia in season 2, loses his powers briefly, and then regains them at a significant downgrade. ** Hiro's time control and teleportation abilities alone make it necessary for his character to constantly grasp the IdiotBall so that he doesn't just solve everything instantly.* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':** Series/KamenRiderKuuga's [[SuperMode Ultimate Form]], which despite being a potentially DeadlyUpgrade, is also debatably one of '''the''' most powerful Kamen Riders. To wit, one of his previous {{Finishing Move}}s, the Rising Mighty Kick, causes a 3 kilometer-diameter explosion; the Ultimate Kick has the potential to ''[[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy the planet]]''. In order to keep from overpowering the plot, Ultimate Form only appears in the last two episodes and is mostly used to battle the BigBad, [[spoiler:who is said to be just as powerful and both share a few common abilities like pyrokinesis.]]** [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Decade]]. BigBad monsters from previous series iterations? [[CurbStompBattle Taken care of in no time flat.]] Still in a tight spot? Turn on your SuperMode and [[SummonMagic summon a previous rider clone for a synchronized double attack.]] Baddie still not finished yet? [[EquippableAlly Turn that ally into a useful weapon or vehicle]] to blow him away. Going up against giants and spaceships? Merge with J and turn everyone else into a card to kick them all to death. Just another day for a [[CatchPhrase passing-through Kamen Rider.]]** Series/KamenRiderKabuto's Hyper [[SuperSpeed Clock Up]] allows him to move faster than light, and travel through time and alternate dimensions. On top of Kabuto being TheAce. However, [[PowerIncontinence he does not appear to have full control over its more powerful functions]], it will sometimes send him to random places of its own accord, his most powerful attack cannot be used while it is active, and some of his enemies have [[TimeStandsStill powers which can counter it]].** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' has the villanous rider Eternal, who can make all Gaia Memories -- the main source of power for heroes and villains alike -- that were not created before his stop working. He can also [[AllYourPowersCombined use all the T2 Gaia Memories at once for several powerful attacks]].** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' has the villainous Kamen Rider Odin. He's physically stronger than the rest of the Kamen Riders, has stronger weapons, and has a TeleportSpam that makes hitting him almost impossible. He doesn't even need use his [[{{Mons}} Mirror Beast]] in any of his fights. Lead characters Kamen Riders Ryuki and Knight can barely slow him down, even with their [[SuperMode Survive Modes]], and if he dies [[BigBad Kanzaki Shirou]] can bring him back.** And let's not forget ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', who [[spoiler:became a God.]]* One drinking game for ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' could be described thusly: take a shot for every problem that [[TheArchmage Merlin]] could have solved if [[BanOnMagic magic wasn't punishable by death]] and he wasn't [[HowDoIShotWeb restricted by his lack of training]]. He gets his full power and training in the GrandFinale, and curb stomps the [[spoiler:''entire Saxon Army'' at Camlann.]] * Parodied in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'', where Angel Summoner and the BMX Bandit form a mismatched duo. Angel Summoner can summon angels, which can accomplish essentially anything; BMX Bandit has... [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway BMX skills]], making him feel like a permanent third wheel. On one mission Angel Summoner allows BMX Bandit to fight alone, while secretly summoning invisible angels to help him.* [[ExpositoryThemeTune The theme song]] to ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' says that Joel ''could'' have built a device that could have skipped movies directly to the end. Instead, he used those parts to build his robot friends.* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Rumpelstiltskin could solve most of the shows problems if he wanted. Or if he weren't the cause of most of them.* Just like in the comics, ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' didn't want ComicBook/MartianManhunter hanging around overshadowing [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark]], so they gave him an arbitrary weakness; his body's HealingFactor was inhibited by Earth's dense, oxygen-filled, and very un-Marslike atmosphere, so he frequently had to fly into space for extended periods to [[GoodThingYouCanHeal heal]] after a battle -- PutOnABus to the ionosphere, so to speak. Later they just [[BroughtDownToNormal depowered him]] entirely in a contrived HeroicSacrifice.* Franchise/StargateVerse:** The Asgard are one of, if not ''the'' most advanced race in the entire story (arguably surpassing even the Ancients at least in certain areas) by the end of their lifespan, and also happen to be [[BigGood very kind and helpful protectors of the Milky Way]]. So how come the Milky Way is overrun by the evil Goa'uld anyway? The Asgard are at a long-spanning war against [[MechanicalLifeforms the Replicators]], a far more dangerous enemy and they're ''not'' winning. Add that they are literally a dying race. The ''only'' time the writers allowed them to be BigDamnHeroes is in a parallel universe.** The Replicators themselves, who turned the Asgard from the mightiest extant species in the known universe to TheRemnant barely holding onto their few remaining planets. They absorb and adapt rapidly to any new technology, which thanks to their FTL MindHive connection is spread amongst all units instantly, and can reform an entire swarm from a single active unit at ridiculous speeds, and that's before they start making [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots human-form Replicators]] which are even more advanced and ''[[ItCanThink smart]]''. {{Kinetic weapons|AreJustBetter}} can temporarily take down smaller units, but they just reform and larger units are impervious. As soon as they arrive in our galaxy the Goa'uld, the undisputed power of the Milky Way and the main threat for eight seasons, get [[CurbStompBattle absolutely demolished]] in a single episode, only taken down using a weapon that could wipe out all life in the galaxy. They're even considered a Story Breaker in-universe, as the back-up plan in ''Film/TheArkOfTruth'' is to [[GodzillaThreshold unleash a swarm in the Ori galaxy]], under the belief that not even they could take them down.** {{Ascend|ToAHigherPlaneOfExistence}}ed beings are basically gods, able to command the forces of nature at will to terrifying effect. To prevent this trope, the writers introduced the idea that the Ancients also have a self-imposed AlienNonInterferenceClause. Which, naturally, they didn't apply to the Ancients' {{Evil Counterpart}}s the Ori when they needed new villains for the PostScriptSeason.* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':** Counselor Troi can sense the emotions of most beings. This would end a lot of episodes really quickly if the writers didn't keep coming up with circumstances where her powers are blocked or confused or she's unable to warn the other characters. Some episodes HandWave or completely ignore her powers and the impact they would logically have on the plot. In early episodes, she's able to communicate with non-Betazoids (or at least her lovers) telepathically, even across long distances. It's not hard to guess why the writers [[ForgottenPhlebotinum quietly dropped]] this aspect of her character.** There's the issue of the entire Betazoid race, and other friendly telepathic species, would seemingly be able to solve all sorts of problems by reading minds. It's a wonder anybody in the galaxy can carry out a hidden agenda. This was demonstrated in one episode where Troi's mother casually revealed that two alien diplomats were really assassins the second she encountered them.** If it weren't for VillainDecay, The Borg would be in here easily. Before ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', they could basically copy and negate the technology of any species they came across, and design nanites that integrated the physiology of any species they encountered into their collective. One of their ships could bring the Alpha Quadrant and any races less powerful than Organians or Douwds to their knees. Indeed the Borg were so powerful that no good reason was ever given why the Borg hadn't conquered the entire galaxy: the writers could only combat this by handing the Borg multiple {{Idiot Ball}}s and eventually sticking them in many of ''Voyager'''s {{Idiot Plot}}s.** The biggest StoryBreakerPower in the franchise, however, is the transporter. The ability to teleport seemingly anything anywhere has been the resolution of just about any plot [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere where it didn't get immediately taken offline or blocked.]]** Replicators fall under this. They can convert energy into matter. Its rarely is ever even handwaved why any MacGuffin of the week cant just be replicated such as the Dylithium Crystals which allow ships to use FasterThanLight travel. Just some of the demonstrations include a robotic beam turret or a fully functioning rifle. One episode even had the Transporters and Replicators combined to make a gun that could fire teleporting bullets anywhere on a space station.** Data's android intelligence does this in-universe when he plays Sherlock Holmes on the holodeck in "Elementary Dear Data". Even when the obvious GameBreaker and SequenceBreaking of being able to remember the plots down to the tiniest detail is worked around, the result is still the android equivalent of easy mode for the computer-generated plots. Increasing the difficulty level brings disaster when it makes one of the characters sapient...* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':** A fifth season episode introduced Jesse Turner, the purported AntiChrist who (due to being a half-demon HalfHumanHybrid) gained really high-level RealityWarper powers following [[{{Satan}} Lucifer's]] presence on Earth, and was obviously more powerful than any other character seen up to that point. Having probably realized this, the writers quickly [[PutOnABus abandoned the character]] by writing him out at the end of his first appearance.** Castiel. Angels are among the most powerful beings in the setting, even "grunt" angels like Castiel effortlessly dispatching most demons and monsters, heal fatal wounds, and even resurrect the dead. While this was fine for {{Story Arc}}s where he was fighting other angels who were equally powerful or even stronger than he was, it trivialized the MonsterOfTheWeek episodes as Cas could just locate the monster and zap it in two seconds. Thus, the writers were forced to continuously include [[DeusExitMachina excuses and storylines which explained why he couldn't help]] the {{Badass Normal}}s. In the seventh and eight seasons, the writers continuously toy with the idea of killing or permanently incapacitating Castiel, but they won't because [[BreakoutCharacter he's one of the most popular parts of the show]], and his episodes get the best ratings. Also, he's funny and arguably [[TheHeart the show's heart]], so his other attributes make the show more enjoyable. The writers just need to figure out how to depower him. [[spoiler:Indeed the season eight finale ends with Castiel's grace being taken from him, effectively [[BroughtDownToNormal turning him human]].]]** Ezekiel is worse than Cas ever was. Introduced immediately after the above event, he quickly becomes the show's go-to fix it guy. In nearly every episode since his introduction he has served as some form of DeusExMachina, including [[spoiler:bringing Cas and Charlie back to life, healing Sam from the trial sickness and a slashed neck, and scaring Abbadon away when she and her mooks have the upper-hand against the Winchesters]]. They try to avert it by saying he's been weakened by his fall from Heaven and doesn't have enough power to be constantly doing this, and yet every time he's needed he's able to muster the strength without issue. But the worst part is, since [[spoiler:he's using Sam as a vessel]] they can't even not have him around when it's inconvenient to the plot like they did with Cas.** WordOfGod admits that in hindsight they made angels too powerful and have had to come up with numerous {{Drama Preserving Handicap}}s to keep them from solving everything single-handedly, hence the proliferation of angel-killing blades and the angels' tendency to [[ForgotAboutHisPowers Forget About Their Powers]]. In season 7 they introduced the Leviathans, who were supposedly even stronger than angels, and unlike the angels were [[AlwaysChaoticEvil all villainous]], but a direct comparison of the Leviathan's abilities versus the angels' was still hilariously one-sided in the angels' favor. Season 9 had to issue a species-wide {{Nerf}} by [[spoiler:casting the angels out of Heaven and burning off their wings, removing their ability to teleport and weakening their other powers.]]** The biggest problem with the angels is the trivial ease in which they can resurrect the dead. Despite the show's DeathIsCheap reputation, just about every character who isn't Sam, Dean, Bobby, or Castiel tends to stay dead when they die -[[spoiler:and even Bobby was eventually KilledOffForReal in season 7]]- and originally this was justified as resurrection having a high cost such as selling your soul or the victim [[CameBackWrong Coming Back Wrong]]. But once the angels were introduced, they were granted the ability to resurrect the dead with absolutely no drawbacks whatsoever. This has caused all sorts of problems as the show continues to kill off the heroes' friends and allies, and nobody ever seems to consider asking Cas or another angel to bring them back. Occasionally there will be a HandWave explanation as to why it can't be done, but more often than not the writers just pretend the angels don't have this ability unless the plot calls for it.** The Colt, a supernaturally powered gun that can supposedly OneHitKill anything. Originally it was limited by the number of bullets it had - any old regular bullet wouldn't work, they had to be enchanted like the gun - so the heroes had to save them for kills that really mattered. In season 3, however, the heroes figured out a way to make new bullets for the gun after extinguishing the original supply. Without the limited ammo, the gun quickly became story-breaking as Sam and Dean no longer needed to figure out [[AchillesHeel monsters' weaknesses]] and could just kill anything they came across by shooting it. Once they realized this, the writers had Sam and Dean lose the Colt, and replaced it with Ruby's knife, which is also a OneHitKill, but only works on demons. The Colt briefly resurfaced in season 5, only for it to be revealed that it actually can't kill everything, [[spoiler:as the Winchesters discover to their horror that Archangels like Lucifer are immune]]. It's lost again after only a single episode in the heroes' possession and never seen again.** The Angel Blade, the primary weapon angels carry which later fall into human hands. Like the original wielder, it is extremely overpowered in that it can kill basically everything in [[{{Heaven}} the attic]] and [[{{Hell}} the basement]], including [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels and Seraphs]], [[HalfHumanHybrid Nephilim]], {{Hellhound}}s, [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]], the aforementioned ''near-omnipotent'' AntiChrist, and even [[TheGrimReaper Reapers]]. These weapons tend to drop in and out of the story though, and one tends to wonder why nobody tried to use such weapons on the MonsterOfTheWeek as they more than likely would work.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Multiple Media]]* ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'':** The Makuta species has 42 base powers, a strengthened version of the elemental power of shadow, highly dangerous [[MaskOfPower mask powers]], and [[BigBad Teridax]] even possessed secret knowledge about the workings of the universe, allowing him to manipulate matter at will. Plus, they're EnergyBeings with [[TheSleepless no biological needs]] who can possess machines or soulless living bodies, their personal bodies can [[ShapeShifting shapeshift]], and they each have access to a personal PocketDimension to store [[ShapeShifterBaggage excess mass]]. ''And'' they can absorb other beings to gain mass or simply kill them. How did the writer keep them from demolishing the heroes under a second? Teridax's masterplan required them to be alive, some Makuta were given {{drama preserving handicap}}s, they had a constant grip on the VillainBall which clouded their judgment, and the gaseous substance they're made out could easily be burnt away.** The Skakdi race has access to elemental powers (but only when working as a team, which they hate), each has a unique but highly powerful special ability (like AdaptiveAbility, bringing objects to life, conjuring {{tailor made prison}}s, PowerCopying, etc), and eye-based or mental powers. And one of them called Zaktan is a WormThatWalks who can fly, shapeshift, and become an insect swarm. Fans cried foul when six of them [[CurbStompBattle easily beat]] the Toa Nuva (the most powerful heroes of their universe), so at the end of the story, they got devolved into weaker sea serpents by MutagenicGoo.** TimeTravel is one power that the writer deliberately avoided, citing this trope as a reason. However, he practically abused dimension-hopping. Thus, to tone it down, Brutaka's Mask of Dimensional Gates was destroyed and the only other MODG in existence fused to Vezon, an incompetent lunatic who could hardly control it.** The Golden-Skinned Being has almost unlimited control over matter and is able to make almost anything disappear into thin air. It has powerful telepathy, can easily brainwash others, and through sheer will, create entire new worlds reflecting the desires of others, where these others can be locked away for eternity, out of this universe. The story got LeftHanging after he appeared, so it's unknown how the writer would have handled him.** The Energized Protodermis Entity, an EldritchAbomination who basically unwittingly set the entire ''BIONICLE'' story into motion, can destroy or transform anything with a slight touch. It's also a liquid, so pretty hard to avoid if you're in a room with it. However, it doesn't have control over whether the things it touches cease existing or get transformed. The being itself very rarely appears, its substance acting mostly as {{Phlebotinum}}. It's only known weakness is gravity -- it flows down big holes.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]* One of the things that contributed to ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' 1960s DorkAge was the introduction of the "Space Coupe" and all its accompanying crime tracking and weaponry. Once you give the heroes a device that can go anywhere and track any kind of crime, the villains don't really have a chance. This led to the plot "Villains Try To Steal The Space Coupe" repeated ''ad nauseum'' for a while.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* What makes a given power a "story breaker" or not in a tabletop RPG context is often the involved group's (especially the GM's) ability and willingness to cope with it in their personal game...or lack thereof, of course. Player character power issues can also be aggravated by the not uncommon tacit assumption that the "PC halo" comes with a fair degree of HeroInsurance, cushioning the characters against what might otherwise be logical ''consequences'' of using their powers. For example, the effectiveness of the "scry-and-die" tactic below relies a lot on any prospective targets of potential teleporting assassins [[OrcusOnHisThrone imitating Orcus]] and rarely if ever actually getting ''proactive'' about patching that hole in their security.** The joy of being a DM is that you have your own story-breaker power in the form of being able to change things before they resolve; it's fairly easy to roleplay a boss that's far better at GambitRoulette than the actual DM playing him. A boss monster that thinks ahead when the DM also thought ahead puts up scrying protections to prevent the teleport trick -- a boss that thinks ahead when the DM did not think ahead just had a permanent illusion of a throne room put in over a pit of poisoned spikes after the last group of adventurers tried the same thing. And a DM that didn't think ahead and feels that the players were CHEATING on them (perhaps because the players somehow obtained spells they weren't supposed to be able to afford at their level) will point out that since the players didn't see through the illusion (which they cannot do through a scrying spell), the fall surprises them, meaning they cannot roll a save to avoid hitting the spikes.* One Miraculous Arc in ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'' is dedicated to having these and festooning them with limitations so that the story can survive. It's known as Reality Syndrome. Generally, they are limited by a) time constraints on how often you can use them, and b) a diagram giving the HG progressively more elaborate opportunities to mess things up as the wish strays further from the character's core truths.* Player characters in ''TabletopGame/{{Continuum}}'' start out with these by default, as a spanner's most basic ability is the power to travel through [[TimeTravel time]] and [[TeleportersAndTransporters space]] at will. Later on they can develop a number of [[PsychicPowers psychic abilities]] like [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]], [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinesis]], [[HypnoticEyes hypnosis]], {{telepathy}}, and more. The GM chapter of the book even starts the section on game balance by warning the GM that "The characters in Continuum are the '''most powerful ever designed''' for an RPG. They can '''teleport''' and '''travel time at will'''. And they will show off every chance they get."* The rulebooks for ''TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles'' make suggestions on this front in two ways. In the section on building opposition, most of the guidelines are along the lines of taking your villain and giving them powers equal in cost to the PlayerParty's. It suggests you create a group of antagonists instead, since as the party gets more powerful, the villain's powers would make them damn near impossible to fight effectively if the model was followed[[note]]One character having powers equal to three or four low-level characters is doable; one character having powers equal in cost to three or four high-level characters results in someone with huge magic potential, is impossible to hit, damn near impossible to harm even if you do hit'em, and will heal fast even if you somehow manage to harm them.[[/note]]. It also suggests that Harry Dresden himself might be one, and gives suggestions for taking him out of the picture. Needless to say, Harry's margin comments are less than enthused about it.-->'''Harry:''' Billy, this whole section DISTURBS me. I'm making this face at you. Like, the one in the picture [[http://i54.tinypic.com/2iia90o.png right here]].* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':** Spellcasters in earlier editions had spells to duplicate ''every power in the trope description'', and [[ComboPlatterPowers spellcasters can learn large numbers of spells]].** With [[CharacterLevel high-level]] characters, one of the simplest and most dangerous strategies is commonly called "Scry and Die" -- instead of [[DungeonBypass traversing a dungeon]] or an [[SequenceBreaking elaborate plot]] to track down the BigBad for an epic confrontation, the players scry out his location with magic, then [[StatusBuff buff]] up (and occasionally ''[[TimeStandsStill stop time]]'') before [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleporting in and killing the unfortunate enemy very, very quickly]] [[FetchQuest (or fetching whatever their goal is to fetch]], and so forth.)** Repeatedly casting the "Love's Pain" spell (someone the target loves takes damage, cannot be stopped) on a {{Mook}} who you have given FakeMemories of loving your enemy...** The ''Wish'' spell, which is pretty much as it sounds. The player wishes for ''anything'' to happen and reality will reshape itself to make it come true. There are some limitations, and some downsides. The spell is difficult to obtain and cast, and drains the life force of the caster (read: XP loss) to empower the events. If the wish is something too insane, the caster may die without yielding enough power to make it happen. Second, and usually even more importantly, you should be ''very'' careful what you wish for. Just wishing for a lot of gold, for example, may result in all the gold in every king's treasury teleported to you. However, how you will explain that to their armies that are sure to follow is not in the scope of the spell. In fact, the GM is specifically instructed by Gygax on what wishes to give them a chance, in Second Edition, and if the players ask for more, to make SURE they regret it.** ''Miracle'', the divine flavor of ''Wish'', is even more broken: The spell-replicating function of ''Miracle'' carries no XP burn and can duplicate the effects of ANY 7th level spell or lower and ANY 8th level Domain spell or lower. Only the massively broken reality-warping function of the spell incurs a possible XP burn. Also, ''Miracle'' is not a spell cast so much as a supplication made of a deity, removing the possibility of the spellcaster receiving any magical backlash — of course, if the deity in question (which is to say, the DM) doesn't feel like granting the request, ''Miracle'' may simply fail, or end up ''worse''.*** Miracle is particularly potent when used by an Ur-Priest, a 3.5 prestige class whose schtick is stealing magic from gods and priests. The god's choices are no longer relevant; since the fluff is that the character is stealing the power from the deity in the first place, the deity no longer needs to approve or disapprove; the caster simply uses the stolen power in whatever manner she chooses. And this would entail no greater or lesser retribution than stealing any other 9th level spell, so if an Ur-Priest is casting 9ths, they've been dealing with that for a while.** Craft Contingent Spell (cast a spell in advance, it triggers when a condition is met) and Celerity ([[ExtraTurn take an extra action]], even in the middle of another character's turn[[note]]Which can disrupt that character's turn, e.g. by moving out of range just before they attack.[[/note]]) can be [[GameBreaker brokenly powerful]] even when used separately, but ''Contingent Celerity'' makes the user impossible to catch by surprise. Throw [[TimeStandsStill Time Stop]] into the mix and well...* Warp is extremely powerful in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', so much so that it is explicitly banned for players in the ''[[DungeonPunk Dungeon Fantasy]]'' books. The authors did eventually cave and add it in with the requirement that the player take a small Unusual Background named "Ha-''ha''! I Can Teleport!" and isn't able to improve it.* The ''TabletopGame/HeroSystem'' traditionally marks those powers that its designers consider to be this trope with warning icons. GM discretion is still required since the system ''also'' allows its "stock" building block powers to be modified N ways from Sunday and so the power level of the final result may end up being radically different (in either direction) from the assumed base, but the issue itself is explicitly acknowledged.* In ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'' [[EldritchAbomination Lord Toruk]] the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragon Father]] is a PhysicalGod who created his own empire with himself as the GodEmperor. The only reason he doesn't just go and burn down the mainland himself is ironically the same reason he needs an army in the first place; he's always worried about the other dragons ganging up on him if he makes any moves, so he's trying to build an army to hunt them down individually, or at least soften them up.* A lot of the drama in ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'' comes from how everyone and their dog has these and is not shy about throwing them around. That said, due to a particular quirk of reality caused by it being written in a language of flowers, anyone, noble or otherwise, can add some changes of their own, and because this kind of reality tampering is, so to say, rewriting the rules rather than playing along with them, nobles could well see their own powers and domain yanked right from them without any say in the matter. Thus, the DM is outright told none of the players should be granted any related power. Third edition adds a wrinkle where you ''can'' do anything, but pushing your power too far - say, using power over snakes to create an Aaron's Serpent, who are snake-shaped ''gods'' - causes Actuals to come out of the substrate of reality and start [[AssimilationPlot absorbing things]], and a few days later you end up with a ship eating Chicago or something similarly difficult to repair.* One of the theories for why the Ancients in ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' went extinct is that they had reached such a high technology level, that their powers were near limitless, and they quickly got bored of everything, and decided to end their race.* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': Caine. Want to fight him? ''You lose.'' That's all his card says.* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':** The Primarchs and the GodEmperor are obscenely powerful even for the setting (the first action of Leman Russ after birth was to ''climb out of a volcano'', and later in life all of them casually crushed [[PhysicalGod Greater Daemons]]), and if they were still around it would devastate the StatusQuoIsGod so beloved by the writers. Hence they have all, in one way or another, been out of action for ten thousand years, with the Emperor immobilised (possibly dead) and directing the Astronomicon, and the Primarchs either dead, incapacitated, lost, or in the case of the surviving Traitor Primarchs [[OrcusOnHisThrone simply content to sit]] in the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Eye of Terror]]. There is a very good reasons for this, as the one time a Primarch (Angron) decided to do something, he conquered approximately ''seventy sectors'' before the Imperium could direct a large enough force against him.** [[LightIsNotGood The C'tan]] had as much power in the material realm as Greater Daemons do in the warp (i.e. RealityWarper levels), fed on stars, and commanded vast armies of [[ImplacableMan Necrons]] which they created in the first place. They caused so many problems with their mere presence that 5th Edition {{retcon}}ned them into having been [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu shattered into pieces]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters by the Necrons]] millions of years ago, and the C'tan that had been encountered were nothing but fairly mindless, much weaker fragments of the originals.** [[HordeOfAlienLocusts The Tyranids]] can [[PlanetEater strip a whole planet of biomass, oceans and atmosphere included]], in a matter of months, are effectively [[WeHaveReserves limitless]] (the number of creatures in a swarm is reliant on how much biomass they've consumed, and they've already eaten several ''galaxies''), their HiveMind projects a [[AntiMagic shadow in the warp]] that disrupts psykers and daemons within dozens of light years of it, and most critically they have ''no'' EnemyCivilWar, unlike every other major threat in the setting. Like the Borg mentioned above there has been no good reason given as to why they haven't already eaten everything in the galaxy and been on their merry way.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' ended with Elizabeth becoming [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]] and unlocking the full scope of her [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] powers. While this worked for the main storyline, it caused major problems for the ''Burial At Sea'' DLC, the second episode of which has Elizabeth as the main character, as it meant the writers had to find a way to write a compelling story about a protagonist who is effectively unbeatable and who's opponents are, at best, BadassNormals. The DLC begins with Elizabeth being awkwardly BroughtDownToNormal and eventually it's revealed that [[spoiler: the whole thing was one long ThanatosGambit planned out by the omnipotent Elizabeth before she lost her powers]]. Fans ''still'' argue over whether she had to be given the IdiotBall to get the plot to work.* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': The legendary hero Hakumen is hands down the strongest character in the setting, with the possible exception of Azrael. However, he doesn't truly exist as we understand; he's stuck in another dimension called the Boundary, and the threads binding him to the physical world are tenuous at best, [[spoiler:and getting weaker]]. Hence, he can only access a fraction of his true power. In one of the drama [=CDs=], [[spoiler:he absolutely [[CurbStompBattle thrashes]] the two {{Big Bad}}s of the story with only 15% of his power, but he was transported away before he could finish them off]]. It's suggested that currently he can only use 40% of his power. If he could use all of it, there probably wouldn't be much of a plot.** Jubei too - he's described as the strongest living creature on the planet, and as such has to be injured early on so that he can't just go and solve all the story's problems by himself.* In one of the many, many, ''many'' {{Walking Spoiler}}s for ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', [[spoiler:Dyntos has the power to copy anything and forge anything. This includes entire armies, and equip them all with ultimate weapons. And he can do it ''far'' faster than any of the other factions. The only thing that keeps him from actually breaking the story is his TrueNeutral tendencies; he doesn't actually ''want'' to take over the universe.]]* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':** The title character of ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork''. Due to his [[BrainUploading nature]], it is implied that if he were to have access to his full potential, he'd be the most powerful entity on the planet. [[spoiler:Demonstrated very clearly in the fifth game where he briefly ascends to this level and destroys the final boss [[MadeOfEvil (the manifestation of humanity's evil)]] with a wave of his hand.]]** X has unlimited potential. The attempted reboot of his series, ''VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX'', has Dr. Light state that X can evolve as he fights, explaining how he retains certain powers and upgrades between games. The only reason he has problems in battle is his kindness causes him to hold back.* Chaos Control from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' allows them to [[TimeStandsStill stop time entirely]] and/or teleport to across various distances. What prevents it from being too broken is that it requires a Chaos Emerald to use, and there are only 7 in existence, and only three recurring characters (including Sonic himself) are capable of the ability.* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW'', the GameBreaker Valzacard is a mecha built with technology far beyond the whole universe, a RealityWarper, has survived the end of the world, and can play with space-time easily. Conventionally, it can erase its opponent from existence and its weakest attack has enough power to obliterate several of the Database Battleships (built with similar technology), making it the most powerful OriginalGeneration in the franchise. The only canonical reason it doesn't [[CurbStompBattle beat everything without even trying]] is because some components are broken and there's no time for repairs, causing its output to be far lower than what it should be.* Tabuu's Off Wave in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' has the power to revert all the characters back into trophies, which allowed it to completely curb stomp nearly the entire cast in seconds, with only a ChekhovsGun allowing one to get free and revive the others. After that, they were only saved from another Off Wave by [[spoiler:a DeusExMachina BigDamnHeroes moment from Sonic, which depowered the Off Wave enough to ''only'' be a OneHitKill that covers the entire screen and can only be avoided through rolling and air dodging.]]* Tartessos [[GeniusLoci the City]] in ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2'' has stored in its temples a warship that is effectively a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleass Galleass]] in an age of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic-era_warships#Quinquereme Quinqueremes]], capable of taking on Krakens without trouble. It can also teleport dragons in for its own defense. That it is a city and effectively neutral for most of the work prevent the powers from being abused.* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fans love to joke that the cast is the most overpowered in fiction, with a long list of characters with unique abilities that have staggering applications, or just phenomenal levels of raw power. In canon [[DuelsDecideEverything the Spell Card rules]] were invented precisely because there were so many of these beings floating around, implemented to prevent the powerful denizens from going all out in combat and allowing weaker beings to stand a chance of winning.** [[BornWinner Reimu Hakurei]] possesses literal PlotArmor, her status as Gensokyo's BarrierMaiden ensuring that she can never be killed as it would cause Gensokyo to experience CriticalExistenceFailure, and can channel Shinto gods to use any of their powers. Furthermore, her ''Fantasy Heaven'' ability temporarily causes her to [[IntangibleMan "fly away from reality" and become completely invincible]]; WordOfGod is that this ability is only allowed in Spell Card duels because she added a time limit - without it she would be unstoppable.** [[NinjaMaid Sakuya Izayoi]] is one big ShoutOut to [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Dio Brando]] above, with a TimeStandsStill ability that's just as broken, and because of RequiredSecondaryPowers can also manipulate space, doing things like making the Scarlet Devil Mansion BiggerOnTheInside and making a {{Hammerspace}} pocket filled with infinite [[KnifeNut knives]]. In canon she doesn't kill people ([[DarkAndTroubledPast anymore]]), but the third ''FanFic/FantasyKaleidoscope'' episode gives a terrifying glimpse of what she's capable of.** [[RoyalBrat Remilia Scarlet]]'s ability to manipulate fate is only ever loosely defined and its use is implied to be unconscious, but the fate of people changes just from being around her (for better or worse) and she can apparently see into the future. No-one can be certain whether or not she's using her ability in any particular situation however, making judging its strength that much more difficult.** [[CheerfulChild Flandre Scarlet]] is a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] with the power to destroy anything by visualising its "eye" and crushing it in her hand, no matter the object (or person) or the distance between her and the target. Her sister Remilia was so concerned about the damage Flandre's powers could cause that she [[MadwomanInTheAttic confined her to the mansion's basement]] for all of her (500 years long) life. Which backfired to an extent, as now she [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength doesn't know her own strength]].** [[CuteGhostGirl Yuyuko Saigyouji]] has the power to kill with a thought (aside from the two unkillable characters Mokou and Kaguya mentioned below), can control dead spirits, and is smart enough to see through even Yukari's schemes at a glance. She's immune to exorcism as long as she's bound to the Saigyou Ayakashi, and unsealing her would release one of the only evil creatures in the setting. However, she spends most of her time running her portion of the Netherworld, and rarely takes things seriously when she does get involved in the plot.** Yukari Yakumo is a powerful {{Youkai}}, a [[TheArchmage master]] of UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}}, TheChessmaster with SuperIntelligence and a legion of spies, and a [[PhysicalGod nine-tailed]] {{kitsune}} as her [[{{Familiar}} shikigami]], but much of her ShroudedInMyth status comes from her power to manipulate boundaries. While in-story this ability has mostly manifested as creating [[CoolGate portals]], and once as manipulating the border of night and day so that it could be both night and day at the same time, [[FictionalDocument Akyuu writes]] that it is far more powerful... at least, [[UnreliableExpositor according to Yukari]]:-->The ability to manipulate boundaries is a terrifying ability capable of [[RealityWarper fundamentally undermining reality]]. As far as we know, everything is built upon the existence of boundaries. If there was no water surface, there could be no lake. If there was no sky line, neither mountain nor sky could exist. Were it not for the Great Barrier, even Gensokyo itself wouldn't exist. If there were no boundaries, everything would probably exist as a single enormous object. Thus, the ability to manipulate boundaries is by logic an ability of creation and destruction. [[ThePowerOfCreation It essentially creates a new being, or rejects the existence of a being]]. [...] It's said that this ability is not limited to physical space, but also applies to pictures, others' dreams, and even stories.** [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Suika Ibuki]] can manipulate density, allowing her to do things like hurl ''minature black holes'' as weapons, and [[SemanticSuperpower because of Touhou logic]] can also [[{{Sizeshifter}} grow big]], split into multiple smaller copies, turn into mist, or even gather or disperse people (population density). And that's ''on top of'' being a oni with enough strength to tear apart and rebuild mountains. Fortunately she's a BoisterousBruiser more interested in fighting than in actually winning.** Eirin Yagokoro, as a super genius once known as "The Brain of the Moon", basically has the superpower of making [[ArtifactOfDoom Artifacts Of Doom]]. Aside from creating the aforementioned Hourai Elixir ([[LostInTranslation which she may or may not have drunk as well]]) and much of [[SpaceElves Lunarian]] civilisation, her plot in ''Imperishable Night'' was to hide Earth from the Moon. [[BiggerOnTheInside She did this by hiding Earth in a pot.]] [[RecursiveReality In a pot she kept on the Earth. She made a fake moon and sky to stick to the inside of the pot, too, so people wouldn't notice they were suddenly in a world that could fit into the hand of a person standing on the world that was in the pot they were holding in their hand.]] And it's been implied that she is also [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omoikane_%28Shinto%29 Omoikane]]), giving her the raw power of a high-ranking PhysicalGod.** Fujiwara no Mokou and Kaguya Houraisan drank the Hourai Elixir, giving them CompleteImmortality and allowing them to regenerate FromASingleCell from any damage, even if their bodies are completely destroyed. The very concept of death has been erased from their beings (meaning if you went back in time to before they drank the Elixir they still couldn't be killed), and the only limiting factor is how much pain they are willing to endure before they just give up. And they can endure a lot, because they spent several centuries repeatedly killing each other to pass the time.** Satori Komeiji's mind-reading is broken enough already, before even considering that she can use it to [[DittoFighter copy an enemy's Spell Card and throw them right back]]. But her sister Koishi sealed away her mind-reading abilities due to FantasticRacism, and in return got the even ''more'' broken ability of manipulating the subconscious. She's [[PsychicBlockDefense immune to mind-reading of any kind]] (her sister's included), and is [[PerceptionFilter completely unnoticeable even if you're looking right at her]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia her existence wiped from people's memories]] afterwards ([[InvisibleToAdults though not for children]]). While this means she's an EmptyShell with no desires or ''thoughts'', Byakuren speculates in ''Symposium of Post-Mysticism'' that she managed to artificially achieve [[UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} enlightenment]].** Utsuho Reiuji controls [[ILoveNuclearPower nuclear fusion]], the thing that powers stars. In her debut she created a miniature sun and was preparing to [[PersonOfMassDestruction cover the surface with nuclear fire]], and afterwards she spends her spare time [[MundaneUtility powering a makeshift fusion reactor]]. It's a good thing all she wants to do is make her master Satori happy.** [[MaskOfPower Hata no Kokoro]]'s ability is [[EmotionBomb manipulating emotions]], which she used in ''Hopeless Masquerade'' to almost start a ''civil war'' in Gensokyo. Fortunately [[PowerIncontinence this wasn't intentional]] and she stopped immediately after she got what she was looking for, but if she started using that power deliberately...** The Miracle Mallet can grant ''any'' wish the user desires. While there's also a cost proportional to the size of the wish, it isn't to JackassGenie levels; the only known large scale wish caused [[AnimateInanimateObject tsukumogami]] to instantly spout up everywhere as a side-effect, some of them becoming {{Evil Weapon}}s, which didn't interfere with the user's plans at all. Fortunately only [[{{Lilliputians}} inchlings]] can use it, and the only inchling around is in no hurry to use it again for any big wishes, as she's more interested in using it [[MundaneUtility to make herself larger]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novel]]* In the second game of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, [[TheHero Phoenix Wright]] acquires the "Magatama" which is an special charm that allows its user not only to see if a person is lying after being asked a question but also shows how willing that person is to fight so their secret remains hidden in the form of many locks, every lock representing a safe measure that the person thought in order to keep their secret, and to top it all, once all of one's Locks are broken, that person will finally admit to the truth and will reveal their secret in full. However, the power of the Magatama will destroy your soul if you fail at breaking the locks too many times, and its function as a lie detector is limited; in 2-4 [[spoiler:Engarde]] denied killing the victim, and was right to the extent that [[spoiler:he didn't kill Juan himself, but hired the man who did]]. * Gilgamesh of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', as the oldest heroic spirit and original owner of most of history's most famous weapons, has a stockpile of ''tens of thousands'' of Noble Phantasms, included among them one of the few swords in existence able to out-power Saber's. Theoretically, he could win almost any fight in seconds simply by virtue of the fact that he has weapons suitable for exploiting the weak points of basically anything he encounters. He is, however, held back by his galaxy-sized ego preventing him from ever fighting seriously, thinking his foes to be 'unworthy' of his true strength. Gilgamesh is so powerful that he´s considered the 4th strongest thing in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} (only surpassed by Primate Murder, Arcuied/Crimson Moon Brunestud and the PhysicalGod ORT of Mercury, a 40 meters tall crystal spider with no concept of death), and can destroy entire planets with [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ea]].* [[BloodKnight Momoyo]] from ''VisualNovel/MajiDeWatashiNiKoiShinasai'' is one of the strongest people in the entire world to the point where she can defeat genetically engineered super soldiers designed to be [[OneManArmy One Man Armies]] in ''seconds''. Due to the usually comedic SliceOfLife tone, this allows the main group to enjoy themselves with little fear of being in danger due to the absolutely massive gap between her and almost everybody else. When things get serious, the plot always finds a way of suppressing her power to create actual drama.* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'':** Shiki kills things in one hit. Period. No matter what, if you have a concept of death, he can kill you. The limiter factor he has during the story is A. no one tells him what he needs to know, B. he thinks killing is wrong, C. initially he can't fight properly unless put in Nanaya mode, D. overuse will implode his mind since a human mind can not continously perceive death. Also he has a nasty scar that likes bleeding and making him pass out. All of these (except for D) are essentially dealt with by the end of the story, so the sequels so far have given him opponents that he ''can't'' [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer simply kill, even if he could beat them.]] Len doesn't want to. [[VideoGame/MeltyBlood Wallachia]] exists as a unique repeating phenomenon. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Arcueid]] is incapable of dying at night time (usually), and [[EldritchAbomination ORT]] doesn't have a Gaian concept of death because it comes from Mercury.*** The direct sequel handles things a little more interestingly. Due to story reasons, Shiki outright forgets his ability, and every time he ends up using it the world melts down, sending him back to the first day of the time loop he's in. When he finally remembers his ability though, he instantly kills the BigBad of the story with little to no fanfare after a grueling battle detailing how there was no way Shiki could defeat the BigBad normally.** A full powered Arcueid is one of the most powerful beings in all of the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}. In terms of brute force, perhaps only the "Types" themselves and people like the dimension-hopping wizard Zelretch and Ado Edem with his reality-cutting sword Slash Emperor are more powerful. Even with 70% of her power suppressed, she has super strength, speed, accelerated healing, ability to exist as a spirit and create a new body for herself if needed, and Marble Phantasm - which via a combination of reality warping & causality manipulation can recreate ''any'' kind of natural phenomena. She can even drop the Moon on her enemies, [[spoiler:and in her Archetype Earth form she has no concept of death.]]** A more broken variant is the original Ryougi Shiki's version of this power, where she can "kill" pretty much anything - magic, emotions, ghosts, living people, etc. - and her powers work through projectiles, which just screams for a sniper rifle.* The witches in ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi''. Bernkastel can make any event happen [[WindsOfDestinyChange so long as the probability of it happening isn't zero.]] Lambdadelta can also make any event happen provided that whoever or whatever is trying to cause that event doesn't give up. [[spoiler:Featherine Augustus Aurora beats them all by being able to [[RewritingReality Rewrite Reality]]]]* The Number 9 Bracelet in ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors''. The Nonary Game is based on using digital roots to unlock doors using a certain combination of numbers on the other bracelets to do so, but the number 9 is able to open every door with every combination since it can't alter the digital root. So what happens to the man with the number 9 bracelet? [[spoiler: He falls for another character's trap and is killed by the bomb in his stomach, leaving his bracelet for said character to claim in secret.]][[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]* One character in ''Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy'' is {{Satan}}. And she has RealityWarper powers. The author has remarked that it's hard to come up with reasons why she isn't using them to help her boyfriend out of whatever jam he finds himself in.* Grace's shapeshifting powers in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', with her Omega form being the strongest to the point that she was able to effortlessly defeat [[spoiler:Damien, the BigBad of the Painted Black arc and]] the most powerful character in the comic at the time. Fortunately, she's usually a pacifist who prefers not to fight unless she has to, and many fights either find a way to take her out of it or put her in a situation where she can't fight at full power.* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':** The timing of [[spoiler:Tavros]]'s death comes suspiciously soon after the revelation that [[spoiler:his animal affinity extends to [[RealityWarper First Guardians]]]], and ''immediately'' after he asks about using it to [[spoiler:get god-dog Becquerel to help directly.]]** The trolls themselves- being parodies of MarySue[=s-=] nearly all have wondrous, impressive powers that are rare even for their species. Unfortunately, their personalities are so dysfunctional and the GambitPileup they get stuck in is so massively ''huge'' (spanning dozens of characters, at least two apocalypses, and time travel in both directions) that any attempt they make to fix the situation either fails completely or only ends up making things worse. A recurring theme throughout ''Hivebent'' is that if the trolls could actually get past their various issues and work together as a team, [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood they could be heroes]].** Jade Harley gets several of these in a row. First, she [[spoiler:imprints her dead dream-self into her sprite]], creating a version of Jade with godlike power... who is too depressed to use it. Then, she [[spoiler:fuses with Jadesprite as part of going god-tier]], giving ''her'' godlike power and the will to use it... but then the plot proceeds in such a way that she spends three years with her boundless teleport mojo not working for her. Finally, [[spoiler:upon arriving in the alpha session, she is hit with mind control by a major villain, caught in a difficult confrontation with a fully-powered Page, knocked unconscious by a surprise hit and finally crushed under a building.]]* Richard from ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' is a nigh-invulnerable dark mage with vast, vast powers: half the time he is sidelined in one way or another to let the other characters achieve something, the other half he is jarringly abrupt in his resolving of fights/problems. An [[CrazyAwesome entertaining character]], but problematic.* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':** [[spoiler:Vaarsuvius]] becomes ridiculously powerful through a DealWithTheDevil. The resulting arrogance results in a serious backfire/subversion later on [[spoiler:when Xykon turns out to be much too well prepared for a simple brute force attack to work]]. The above-described Scry and Die tactic is explicitly mentioned.** [[WordOfGod According to Rich Burlew]], even with Vaarsuvius having the two most useful spell schools on his banned list, it is very hard to write scenarios that he can't trivialize with the other six spell schools.** He's also stated that he considers ''true resurrection'' (the most powerful resurrection spell) a story-breaker, and it will never show up in the comic. He also mentioned that the few monsters capable of casting it naturally would demand at least one life in exchange, which in most cases is too high a price for the characters to reasonably pay.* This is why Petey only rarely gets screen time on ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''. His personal power level is at least an order of magnitude above any of the civilizations in the story, and he is fighting a war against the Andromeda galaxy.* Phantaminum from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''. As an Exis, he is a being that cannot be interfered with. That's all he needs, but he is also unGodly powerful in conventional ways. Fortunately, he is a [[WorldBuilding background character]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]* PlayedForLaughs in one ''Liar Town USA'' post, [[http://liartownusa.tumblr.com/post/99159463300/futuresight describing a fictional TV show]] called ''Futuresight'': "A wildly successful clairvoyant gambler is persuaded to solve crimes by the FBI. Since he's psychic, he solves hundreds each day. It's no big deal. Then a crime syndicate decides to target him. But they end up in jail, because he can see the future. After that, it's back to gambling."* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Wyoming's Time Distortion Unit powers are nebulously defined anyway, but we know at the very least it can be used to loop small segments of time (used specifically by Wyoming to "replay" a situation in which he loses) and slow/stop time around the user. Yet in the prequel bits, Wyoming never once makes use of it, even after we ''know'' he has an AI. This is because time manipulation should make it impossible for Wyoming to ever lose--and he very specifically has to at a few points.* Conveniently for ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'''s plot, Pyrrha (who can control anything metallic at will) is rarely around to fight the many villains armed with metal weapons.* Tennyo of the Literature/WhateleyUniverse is so powerful that in her battle at Christmas she ''ripped a hole in space and time'' and destroyed an unkillable thirty-foot regenerating monster. Plus, she may be the strongest regenerator on the planet. Her problem is that her powers are potentially ''too'' destructive -- her "death blow" is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, she can end up irradiating the area she's fighting in without meaning to or noticing, and sometimes when she loses her temper badly enough ''something'' seems to get loose that drives normal humans insane with fright before she's even really done anything to them. In "Ayla and the Great Shoulder Angel Conspiracy", the authors figured out how to use her backstory to give her a HeroicBSOD and totally take her out of the game.* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':** Contessa has the ability to [[spoiler:see and carry out a guaranteed path to victory. And unlike other forms of prescience in the setting, her power cannot be countered by other precogs]]. Or as she puts it, "I win."** Scion, [[spoiler:as the entity that gave parahumans their powers, [[AllYourPowersCombined he has access to almost all of them]] dialed UpToEleven. Including Contessa's power]]. His main power, unique to him, is "stilling"; the ability to cancel out wavelengths of any and every kind. This includes essentially all matter and energy, giving him obscenely powerful offense and defense. He is far and away the most powerful character in the setting.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':** Bloodbending, which enables the user to control people's bodies, would be this if it were not only usable under a full moon. The only way Katara is able to defeat Hama while she is Bloodbending Aang and Sokka is to use Bloodbending herself. That said, it is shown that Bloodbending multiple people is difficult, and it's doubtful doing it to a large room was within the capabilities of either woman.** Bloodbending came back as a true storybreaker in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', because it was the only way to create an opponent that would be remotely dangerous to Aang in his prime. With all four elements at his command and the Avatar state under his control, his opponent Yakone had to be a Bloodbending crime lord who could Bloodbend dozens of people in the middle of the day ''with his mind'', without a full moon, and it was still rather one-sided in Aang's favor. Likewise, [[spoiler:his sons needed the same ability]] if Korra, having already mastered three out of four elements, was to be believably challenged.** [[SuperMode The Avatar State]] itself is this. The Avatar is already one of the strongest benders around in each of the four elements. The Avatar State takes that power and increases it to incalculable levels. Aang's ability to enter the state would've been devastating in the original series... [[DramaPreservingHandicap if he could use it at will. Of if Korra could have used it at all]]. At the end of Season two of ''The Legend of Korra'' [[spoiler:Raava, the Spirit of Light was destroyed and re-bonded with Korra, completely resetting it.]]* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'':** [[EleventhHourRanger Tigerhawk]], the last Maximal to premiere in the show. In addition to being a FlyingBrick, he can [[BlowYouAway create giant tornados]] and [[DishingOutDirt earthquakes]] that lays waste to the Predacons' lair that the Maximals have been hammering away at for three seasons; he can even stand toe-to-toe against Megatron's final form in a one-to-one match, something that not even [[TheHero Optimus Primal]] in his final form can do. If he was in the FinalBattle, it wouldn't last five minutes, [[spoiler:which was probably a reason why Tigerhawk died protecting the Maximal base just before the final showdown, against a giant CoolStarship that was stated to be the strongest Decepticon warship ever built, and he still managed to put a decent fight against it with it taking all the power in its [[WaveMotionGun fusion cannon]] to kill him.]]** [[NighInvulnerability Rampage]] was introduced in a episode styled as a SlasherMovie. It took [[EnemyMine 2 Maximals and 1 Predacon]] to take him down and they had to resort to gunning him down [[DisneyVillainDeath off a cliff, knowing it would only stun him long enough for them to escape.]] At the end of the episode, Megatron manages to capture and weaken his spark, forcing him to obey the Predacons but levelling him down to "merely" MadeOfIron so he could be defeated in regular combat.* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'':** Ben is the wielder of the Omnitrix, an alien device that can potentially turn him into more than ''one million'' aliens, several of them with their own set of super-powers. This would, in theory, allow him to handle any possible situation as long as he choses the right form. So of course, this power is balanced by most alien forms being locked, Ben's tendencies to go for the IndyPloy and [[{{Troll}} the Omnitrix constantly giving him the wrong alien or turning him back to normal at the wrong time]]. There ''is'' a master code that allows to transform at will into any alien with no time limit, but it's extremely hard to unlock and Ben hasn't figured it out. [[FutureBadass Ben 10,000]] has unlocked it and, in the original series' future, ended up becoming so effective he made police and other heroes obsolete.*** Two of Ben's alien form, Way Big and Alien X, could probably end any episode in a matter of seconds. Way Big is [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever a giant alien taller than skycrapers, with strength and durability proportional to his size]], but is too big for most places they fight in. Alien X is a ''{{Reality Warp|ing}}er'', but has a three-side SplitPersonality that you need to conciliate to make him do anything (down to things such as walking and moving).** According to WordOfGod, the ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'' episode "Above and Beyond", which involved the [[FiveManBand Plumber's Helpers]] trying to save [[TheMentor Max Tennyson]] from a suddenly AxCrazy Ben on an abandoned space station, didn't have [[TheSmartGuy Cooper]] in it because of this: his power ([[{{Technopath}} Technopathy]]) would have quickly allowed the group to [[spoiler:figure out [[SuperDickery this was all just a masquerade orchestrated by Max and Ben to test their abilities]].]]** In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', Ben often has to suffer from ForgotAboutHisPowers so he doesn't win every single fight easily. This includes being too inattentive to check if he's actually picking the right alien, not to mention not using the ones with obvious Breaker powers like the GravityMaster. This trope is probably also the reason why none of the Ultimate forms from Ultimate Alien carried over to Omniverse.* [[TheHeart Ma-ti]] from ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''. Yes, ''[[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway that]]'' Ma-ti. While his powers are limited, just like the other Planeteers, he is still the most powerful of the group. He cannot mind control extremely evil people, calm animals that are too scared, read unconscious people, etc. But if Ma-Ti was flawed enough not to resist Zarm's evil charms and he picked up Heart of Conquest in the episode "The Conqueror", he would be able to mind control the world. An AlternateUniverse Ma-Ti abused his powers to force sympathy and get rich people to donate money to him freely.* A recurring reason most plots have [[BadassNormal Rufus and Amberley]] save ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' whenever it is stolen, since both the Dream Maker and the Wut army have near limited amount of power that disposes of [[HarmlessVillain the Urpneys']] plans with complete ease whenever they are finally forced to take action (most exceptions seem to involve them simply [[ForgotAboutHisPowers standing there hopeless]] until the Noops do something). This however stills leaves the conundrum of why they constantly decide to send two powerless children into harm's way when they could easily do the job themselves.* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' has Breach, an E.V.O. with the ability to create portals that go ''anywhere'', including at least one PocketDimension where she placed an entire city to be her "dollhouse". The only thing keeping her from completely breaking the story for either the [[DeusExMachina heroes]] or the [[DiabolusExMachina villains]] is that she's too [[SanityHasAdvantages mentally broken]] to reach her full potential.* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':** Franchise/TheFlash, period. Like the comics, the writers had to find a way to nerf his powers to better maintain tension in the story. When the writers finally have him go all out, Flash completely [[CurbstompBattle curbstomps]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Brainthor.]] In another episode, the completely unfettered Lex, given control of Flash's body, showed just how deadly the Flash could be if he didn't hold himself back.** Amazo, returned with godlike powers ([[CurbStompBattle defeating the defenses of Oa and the entire Justice League at once without really breaking a sweat]]) and wanting to find his purpose in the universe. He quickly disappears for the remainder of the series after discovering his powers were making a magic-fueled enemy stronger. The writers must have realised that having a virtual god on the good guys' side who can shift planets to other dimensions on a whim and whose superpowers were as beyond Superman as Superman is beyond a normal human, would make the Justice League pointless.* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': The title character's battle suit was meant to be a one-shot EleventhHourSuperpower in the GrandFinale; its enhanced strength, speed and other nifty abilities allowing her to put a definitive beatdown on arch foe Shego, and then ride off into the sunset... er... prom. Then the show was UnCancelled and the writers had to deal with a weapon that would let Kim curb stomp her entire rogues gallery. Solution: Split time between making excuses to not put on the suit and having bad guys try and steal it. Up until the ''other'' Grand Finale, where Warhok is strong enough to take Kim out, suit or not. Of course then ''Ron's'' Story Breaker Power kicks fully in...* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':** The Elements of Harmony are explicitly stated to be the most powerful magic in Equestria, and swiftly defeated every villain they've been used against. Thus the conflict revolves around actually getting to them, and then making sure they work properly (as they effectively weaponise ThePowerOfFriendship). In the Season 4 premiere the Mane Six sacrifice the elements by returning the items to its source, the Tree of Harmony, rendering them no longer usable, but in the season 4 finale [[spoiler:are replaced by the even ''more'' broken Rainbow Power that when used was an InstantWinCondition for the two-part conflict.]]** [[GreatGazoo Discord]] is a RealityWarper so powerful he's almost [[TheOmnipotent omnipotent]]. The Elements of Harmony are initially the only thing that threaten him, as he's so far beyond the power of everyone else, and his powers [[WrongContextMagic are so divergent from everyone else's]], that it's almost funny. As of "Keep Calm and Flutter On" [[spoiler:Fluttershy has made him value his friendship with her too much to risk angering her by returning to his villainous ways]], but as a being of chaos he isn't likely to help out in ''solving'' problems.** ThePowerOfFriendship, and to a lesser extent ThePowerOfLove, are horrendously powerful in Equestria. As mentioned it powers the Elements of Harmony, incinerates Windigos, defeated [[spoiler:Discord]] by [[spoiler:inducing a HeelFaceTurn]], and Queen Chrysalis gained a ''gargantuan'' power boost by [[EmotionEater absorbing the love]] of only one pony. There's a reason [[GenreSavvy Celestia was so insistent on Twilight making friends]].** [[GodEmperor Princess Celestia and Princess Luna]] are magnitudes more powerful than all but a handful of beings [[note]]And only Luna's SuperPoweredEvilSide and Discord surpass them on their own merits; Chrysalis, Tirek, and Twilight all absorbed energy from others.[[/note]], and their political clout could solve many of the interpersonal issues the cast faces, thus they frequently pull a DeusExitMachina or are otherwise unavailable. And the few times Celestia does show up she falls victim to TheWorfEffect.* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has the title character discover he has healing powers in "An Indirect Kiss", which destroys pretty much any tension from characters getting hurt or damaged provided that aren't killed outright. But following events in "House Guest" his healing powers no longer work.* The Sword of Omens from ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats'' kept getting new powers so it could be the solution to so many plots as the series wore on that it became this. Even when it was destroyed, they just reforged it again.* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':** [[SuperSpeed Kid Flash]], unlike his adult counterpart in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', did not receive a {{Nerf}}. This resulted in him being able to defeat enemies with ease that the actual main characters routinely struggled against. This may also be the reason why in the finale, Kid Flash is the [[EleventhHourRanger last to actually show up to help.]] ** Raven's powers are [[SwissArmySuperpower massively more diverse]] and [[SuperpowerLottery generally stronger]] than those of her teammates. Consider how many episodes have to either separate her from the group or remove her abilities altogether; when she does cut loose, she tends to end the plot in about ten seconds.* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'':** This trope is the reason [[TheMole Makeshift]] got KilledOffForReal during his debut episode. The creators felt [[HumanShifting his ability to copy the form of any Cybertronian]] would be too powerful, so after discovering the Autobot base, he went [[WhyAmITicking boom.]]** This is also why the Dark Star Saber goes [[ForgottenSuperweapon unused and unmentioned]] throughout most of season 3. Megatron was already dramatically more powerful than everyone else, with the exception of Predaking and the upgraded Optimus who he winds up using the blade against in the finale.** Even before that, the Star Saber was immediately broken after its' debut episode, since it gave the Autobots an advantage Megatron was ''terrified'' of. It gets repaired in the season finale, but it vanishes from the plot until the finale, and even then it's not wielded properly by a Prime, but it nevertheless is used by Bumblebee to [[spoiler:kill Megatron]]. It briefly appears in the GrandFinale movie, but it's never used again, not even against Unicron.* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'':** The Golden Tiger Claws lets its user to slash open a portal to anywhere the user wants to go. When [[ClassyCatBurglar Katnappe]] got a hold of them she [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] the Xiaolin Dragons without much effort. [[TheHero Omi]] stops her by using the claws to slash a portal to the earth's core and then throw them in [[NoMacGuffinNoWinner so neither side can use them]]. They eventually got retrieved when the Xiaolin Dragons have to use them to defeat [[TheBrute Mala Mala Jong]] but after that point [[SoLastSeason both teams became powerful and skilled enough where the claws don't make as much of a difference in battle]].** The Shard Of Lightning - which stops time entirely - gives Jack the ability to not only curbstomp the heroes within seconds, but totally humiliate them at any given time, steal the Shen Gong Wu whenever he wants, and basically defeat any opponent without needing any help whatsoever. As he would have become totally undefeatable if he had held onto it, he manages to lose in the end and it's locked away in the vault where no one can abuse its power. This is basically how the show gets rid of every game breaker Shen Gong Wu: lock it away for the benefit of the world, just in case it somehow ends up in the wrong hands.** The Reversing Mirror, mostly due to its having a myriad of uses and little downsides. It can reflect attacks magical or otherwise, it can cause attacks to have the opposite effect, it can override the effects of near any Shen Gong Wu just by being in the vicinity, it can change things that have nothing to do with Shen Gong Wu to their opposite, and can be used in conjunction with Shen Gong Wu most famously by ''bringing a ghost to life''. Pretty much every time it's used by someone with a bit of cunning, the results are extreme: more usage in the series might have brought about some very interesting techniques, but it also would have likely resulted in its user(s) being basically impossible to attack. So it was only brought out when the plot called for it specifically.** The Sphere of Yun imprisons its target in an unbreakable sphere. The first time we see it in use, Jack Spicer - who is ''THE'' HarmlessVillain - uses it to effortlessly capture Chase Young, the strongest villain in the show. The only way to escape is the aforementioned Reversing Mirror.** The Sands of Time. TimeTravel. Need we say more? It was disposed of when Omi's 80 year old self took it with him to his own time. Like the Golden Tiger Claws, it was later retrieved, but then flat-out destroyed soon after. 1500 years ago. [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble Whatever.]]* ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'' introduces a remote that can control any mechanical device, even Zeta. Eventually, Roe gets her hands on one, but by the end of the episode it is forgotten. And for good reason; if the heroes have one they never have to fight again and if the villains have one they don't need to work to stop the heroes. Ironically, a later episode implied the device was a mass-produced children's toy.* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'': Aladdin has access to a [[BenevolentGenie Genie]], a [[{{Flight}} flying carpet]], and assistance from royalty. To compensate, not only did Genie and the Carpet get power downgrades and a slew of new weaknesses, many of their adversaries can range from [[MechaMooks armies of robots]] to [[PhysicalGod literal gods]].** Oh, and the royal army? They all hate him.[[/folder]]